Persona: Shadowed Ground
by ArcanaHermit
Summary: As Kurea Von Herz gets transferred into a new school in Liverty Town, she'll discover hidden terrors that prey on the weak minded. Using the power of her inner self, she will face these terrors in order to uncover the truth of its origin. A completely new story set in the Persona setting. An experimental fic, so please be open with criticism.
1. Prologue: Welcome to the Velvet Room

**Hi, this is my first attempt at writing an original story using an existing IP. I hope you don't find it to be too bad, and that you may give me tips on how to write this thing better. Um...that was an awkward introduction, but I hope you enjoy reading. If you were a follower of my previous work, please forgive me if this is not a worthy follow up, this is more of a test of my abilities than anything else. -ArcanaHermit**

"Welcome...to the Velvet Room."

When I opened my eyes, the sight before me was surreal. I wasn't sitting in a train on the way to my new school, drinking from my thermos, that's for sure.

Instead, the place I'm sitting in seemed like one of those fortune telling tents you see in carnivals, though it was definitely larger. The walls were velvet blue cloth. Actually, almost everything in this room was velvet blue, as though this strange place knew no other color. Two large pillars stood on either side, reaching up high up to the seemingly endless black void above, and between them was a simple table.

A man was sitting behind a table on a couch. He was wearing a black suit, hunching back. His face was definitely what you would call abnormal, having wild gray eyebrows, eyes that never seem to close, or even blink, and one the longest noses I have ever seen. Despite the...odd look, I get an odd sense of assurance off from him. Beside him was a girl with long silver hair tied in a ponytail and strange golden eyes, and is wearing what appeared to be a velvet maid outfit, and was carrying an ornate leather book.

I was still taking in the reality (or lack thereof) of my situation, but the man's words brought snapped me out of it.

"Greetings. I am Igor, proprietor of this room, and this is my assistant, Victoria."

The lady in blue also introduced herself, in a smooth and sultry voice.

"The pleasure is mine."

After a few seconds of pondering, I decided to answer their introductions with my own.

"Um, my name is Kurea. Kurea Von Herz, it's...um...a pleasure to meet you."

The man didn't seem to notice my nervousness, or didn't really seem to care.

"This place exists between mind and matter, dream and reality. Now then, let's see what the future has in store for you."

With that, a deck of cards materialized on the table, a picture of a mask on it's back. With a gesture from the man, six cards flew from the deck to the center of the table, forming a circle.

"Do you believe in tarot readings? They say that the cards will always tell the future, but the future can always be changed. Now, let us see the path you'll be walking on."

With a simple sweeping motion of his hand, the card on the very left flipped open, revealing a picture of a crescent moon in the middle of the night sky.

"Ah, The Moon facing upwards. It seems there are many deceptions in your future, a seething that eludes you from the answers you shall seek. You will need to undertake many ordeals in order to peer through it, little by little."

With another sweeping motion, the card on the very right flipped open, there were four objects on each corner on the card. I could see a cup and a square, but couldn't exactly make up the other two.

"This card tells of the role you are about to play. The Temperance Face facing upwards. It seems that you are destined meet a number of people. They shall act as the pieces of the key, and your role is to act as the force that binds these pieces together."

My mind was being filled with confusion. I am the force that shall bind the pieces? There shall be illusions in my future? What does it all mean? Why am i here? Who exactly is this man Igor? Before I could respond, he continued.

"I know that you have many questions to ask, and all those shall be answered in time. But before we continue further, I would like to show you something."

Another sweeping motion. The cards on the table all disappeared, and the object that replaced them was a simple piece of paper. From the distance on which I was seeing, I couldn't make out the words was on the paper, save for the giant "contract" on the very top.

"This is a contract that allows us to use our services. In return, we only ask that you take responsibility for the path you choose. You may not see it from here, but in essence, the contract says: "I chooseth this fate of mine own free will""

Immediately after that, Igor suddenly looked up, as if sensing something that I could not. He gave out a contented sigh, and looked back at me.

"It seems that our time here is up. I hope you choose wisely in the days to come, for your decisions shall ripple forth unto others. Until next we meet, dear guest of ours."

My vision was suddenly hazy, and soon all I could see was white.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Now reaching Liverty Town."

This was the first thing I heard when I woke up, I immediately put my hand to my forehead, making sure I wasn't catching a fever.

 _What was that dream? It seemed surreal yet so...vivid. It shouldn't mean anything and yet...I can't help but feel that it was important._

As the train stopped moving, I quickly took what luggage I had and boarded off the train, putting thoughts of that strange experience behind me. While I'm in the station, I quickly managed to follow the directions and headed off to the local train line that runs through the city, and after a few minutes of figuring out the map, I boarded the train to my destination: Sliverpoint Dormitories

As I looked out the window, I could see the main shopping district, full of all sorts of stalls and stores. There were a lot of people out on the streets, including a lot of high school students. It seemed as thought they were having the time of their lives. My face smiled at the sight of the many opportunities that are sure to await me in this bustling town.

 _Liverty Town, huh? I'll be staying here for a while, so I might as well make the best of it._

 **And that's it. I know it's sort of a boring beginning, but I'll try to ramp it up as it goes along. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading this opening act -ArcanaHermit**


	2. Chapter One: Introductions

**Hmm, time for chapter 2 of this. Depending on how this goes, I might just stick to one-shots for the time being. Regardless I hope you enjoy reading chapter two of Shadowed Ground. –ArcanaHermit**

 _Hmm…this should be Silverpoint Dormitories. For my new home, it doesn't look half bad._

Those were my first thought when I reached my destination, a four-story building surrounded by normal residences. It looked quite old but well maintained, judging from the look of it. There should be someone inside waiting for my arrival. Not wanting to waste any more of his time, I quickly opened the door and headed inside.

The inside of the first floor was a well crafted lounge area, for what I assume to be when guests not residing in this dormitory would stay should they visit. I did hear a rule that no outsiders are allowed to enter anyone's room under any circumstances. To my left was a bulletin board, followed by the restrooms. Just on the corner behind those was a circular staircase leading to the second floor. To my right I saw 3 couches, with a TV being placed on the wall the center couch was facing. Behind those was a dining area with a set of tables and chairs, with a basic kitchen area just behind it.

As I was looking at my surroundings, I noticed two men having a conversation in the dining area. Both of them seem to be students of the school I'll be attending, as they were wearing the same uniforms that I got when I enrolled. One of the males was leaning on the wall. He was very tall and thin, with unkempt black hair, a stoic face showing a frown and some slight stubble. There was something about his dark eyes that would suggest that he is a very cold and uncaring person, though that was just my basic assumption.

The other guy was of average height with a slightly robust build, he also has blonde hair and brown eyes. He also had a yellow cloth band wrapped around his left arm, indicating that he was among the school staff, like a club leader. Whereas the other guy's eyes were cold, the other guy's brown eyes were full of passion and excitement. As I was still trying to analyze the two of them, the tall guy noticed me and pointed me out to the blonde guy, said something I couldn't hear, and casually walked to the second floor, hands in his pockets.

"Ah, you must be the new kid; let me introduce myself."

The blonde guy quickly approached me and made a bowed before me.

"My name is Lazard Ramsey. I'm the student council president and I've been assigned…well I've assigned myself actually, to comfortably set you into your new living quarters and your new school. It's a pleasure to meet you. "

This guy definitely seems enthusiastic about this.

"I'm sure you know this already, but I'm Kurea Von Herz, it's a pleasure to meet you too. Sorry that you have to take time out of your schedule to do this, it must be annoying."

"Oh, don't worry. Helping out students is all part of being student council president. I hope you find your stay here to be an enjoyable one. Now, here's what you need to know about the dorm here. Excluding you, there are three people currently living in the dormitories. Those three are me, James Selene, another student, and Dr Valeria Strauss."

"James Selene? You mean that the other guy you were talking to?"

"Oh, you noticed him, huh? Yeah, he's a senior, same as me. He likes to keep to himself, so you probably won't see much of him. Still, he isn't so bad, once you get to know him, just a little too…reserved."

Hmm, judging from first glance, he does seem like the kind of guy that doesn't hang out with people a lot. I ask about the other resident of the dorm.

"Oh, you want to know about Dr Valeria? I don't know much about her honestly. All I know is that she's apparently works for the organization that runs the school and that James knew her beforehand. She's actually on some sort of business trip, but she'll be back tomorrow. Anything else you'd like to know?"

I was just about to respond, but the fatigue from the long ride was finally getting to me, as my head was feeling extremely light. I shook my head, trying to conserve my energy. Lazard immediately notices it and gave me a concerned look.

"Ah, the train ride must have taken a lot out of you. Perhaps you should sleep early. Well, your room is on the second floor, go to your right and you'll see a long hallway, and your room is the second door to the right. I hope you enjoy your stay in Silverpoint Dormitories."

"T-thanks."

With that introduction out of the way, I quickly scrambled up to the second floor. Following Lazard's instructions I easily found my room and got in. The room was quite small, with only a bed, a simple wooden table, and a wardrobe. Still, it was the place where I'll be sleeping for the next year or so, so I better make myself comfortable.

I quickly unpacked all of my things. Once I was done, I decided to check my phone for any emails that my parents might have sent me. It was 7:30pm March 30th, and my parents didn't send me anything. So I decided to head off to bed and sleep early, my mind quickly losing consciousness.

 _Late Night. Silverpoint Dormitories 4_ _th_ _floor, observation room._

I quickly entered the observation room at the intended time, but much to my surprise, James was already there, working the observation console. On the monitor was a crystal clear picture of Kurea's room, with her sleeping soundly.

"I thought we were going to do this at a later time."

James simply shrugged. He always likes to do that whenever I said something that he feels that needed no explanation. I'd be annoyed, but he usually gives a reason that I couldn't come up with a retort to.

"She slept early, I might as well start the tests early, it'll save us the wait"

I headed over to the couch near the console and sat down. If he had already finished the tests he would have simply told me, so I decided to wait while he continued to handle the delicate looking machine.

"You know, I feel bad about this. I know what we're doing is important but…spying on her feels wrong."

"Well, it's not like we can approach her directly and tell her about it, she'll just think we're just a bunch of lunatics. Besides, it's your fault for assigning her into our dorm in the first place. I'm just seizing the opportunity you gave me."

I sigh in defeat. It's true that, under normal circumstances, she wouldn't ever be assigned to this dorm. But I just had the unfortunate luck of having her transfer here at the last minute, and all the other available dorms were completely booked out. As student council president, I had a duty to make sure she had a place to stay.

However, that wasn't important. There were other things that needed to be discussed to him.

"Did you hear the news? Another case popped up. A local businessman suddenly flew into a violent rage and attacked random people. He got promptly subdued and was sent to the psych ward. The shrinks said it was due to extreme stress, like the other cases, but the pattern fits the bill. It's definitely the work of "them""

He seemed unsurprised, and if I hadn't known him for so long, I would have even said that he didn't care.

"With Doctor Valeria gone, we lost out only means of tracking "them" down; it was only a matter of time before someone would get attacked and suffers "The Hypersensitivity Condition""

This "Condition" was what the public has been calling the strange string of cases that have been popping up lately. The cases vary from person to person, but the general idea is that people that suffer that condition suddenly fly into a violent rage, attacking anyone that even passes them by. So far there were no casualties, and the cause of them, as far as the public is concerned, was extreme stress.

However, to those select few people with insight on the matter, they knew its true cause. Those cases weren't caused by something as simple as stress, but rather something far, far darker.

As I was still contemplating the matter, James simply stood up from the console chair and lied down on the couch opposite of me, giving out a sigh. Apparently he was done with the tests.

"It's positive. She has the power."

I couldn't help but hide my shock on my face, leading to a smirk from James.

"You're kidding me. What were the odds that she had the "power"?"

"Astronomically low, but it appears that fate decided to throw us a curveball. Not only does she show positive on all the readings, she exceeds the requirement average by quite a margin"

I didn't understand what he meant by that. Sure, I know there was a certain amount of "awareness" you need to awaken that power, but what does he mean in that she exceeded the amount required? Does that mean she's more "aware", and therefore more powerful? I decided to ask him about it.

"I really can't say. I only know how to work the console and interpret the results. The other stuff you need to find out from Valeria, and even then I doubt she has enough data to have a surefire conclusion. The only thing we can say for sure is that she has the "power", and that we need to recruit her once Valeria comes back from her little trip."

It was going to be hard, asking someone that just came here to do this. I could still remember when I was first recruited into this special "group", not that long ago. I could still feels echoes of that initial shock even now.

"I know you don't like dragging others into this, but the magnitude of this situation requires we use every possible "user" we have. It's the only way we can find out more about what's going on."

There was the James I knew: stoic, calculative, and above all, pragmatic.

"Like I said, we'll plan our next move once Valeria comes back tomorrow. Until then, you just show her around the school and get her comfortable, try to get to know her. It'll make breaking the news to her all the easier"

I yawned. Looking at the clock, I realize that it's almost going to be midnight. Seeing as there were no other issues to discuss, I decided to head back to my room and sleep.

Tomorrow is definitely going to be an interesting day, that's for sure.

 _March 31_ _st_ _Early Morning. School Gates_

I was walking into the school gates, admiring the scenery around me. The school wasn't grand or anything like that, but it had that liveliness that my old school was missing. There was greenery on either side of the road to the inside of the school, and students were all around me, running, talking to each other and smiling.

"You seem to like what you see."

Lazard was accompanying me. He seems to be really intent on showing me around the school, even more so then yesterday.

"Yeah. My last school was so formal you could even hear a needle drop. It's nice to have some lively noise. I still can't help seeing some people look your way."

He made a groaning noise.

"Urgh…they're probably getting the wrong idea. When you're the student council president, even talking to an unrelated girl will raise some rumors. I'm gonna have to make sure to shut some mouths, for both our sakes."

I couldn't help but giggle. This student council president wasn't exactly what you would call inspiring at first glance, but I can see why they elected him. He's so approachable and dedicated to helping people out.

Finally entering the school for the first time, I saw that the inside of the school was very pristine. There was a counter selling food, one hallway to the right and left, and a big staircase in the center of the hall.

"Well, I'll need to be going, we'll talk later. The hallway to the right leads to the faculty office, you need to go there and meet your homeroom teacher Ms Lierman before heading to class. The hallway to the left goes to the hospital, in case you get sick. And we don't have a cafeteria, so you can eat wherever you feel like. Well, see you later."

With that, he took off and dashed up the stairs. I recalled there being a rule that running is not allowed, but I supposed I took up a lot of his time. Guess I'll just head off to the faculty office.

I entered the faculty office, and it was one of the few things that looked similar to my school. I asked for Ms Lierman and was soon greeted by her, a rather beautiful looking lady with a kind demeanor about her, and she was holding what were supposedly my application papers.

"Ah, you must be the new transfer student…Kuraya, was it?"

"It's Kurea. Kurea Von Herz."

"Ah right, sorry. I'm Jill Lierman, your homeroom teacher. Now I was so busy that I didn't look at your file. Let's see…your parents are going overseas, and so they decided to transfer you here."

"Yeah, this was my mother's hometown. She said I needed to be in…how did she put it? A more exciting and lively environment."

"Ah, well I can definitely tell you this place is quite lively, though not always for the better, (sighs) foolish trouble-makers. Anyways, class is starting soon, why don't you accompany me there?"

Soon after, I was introduced to the rest of my class. It wasn't really my first time talking about myself in front of a crowd, so I wasn't really nervous at all. Afterwards, classes finally started to get underway.

Nobody in my class greeted me, but they were giving me funny looks and whispering stuff about me. I feel like I'm in high court being judged or something like that.

"Ah, man. If there's one thing that doesn't change no matter what the school, it's that classes are boring."

I was saying that to no one in particular as I just walked outside the school gate. There were so many things I want to see in this town. I could go shopping, hit the arcades or…

 _I art thou_

Those three words suddenly flashed into my mind. It was like someone planted those words directly into my head.

"W-what was that?"

After that, I started to feel dizzy and tired. That's weird, I know classes were boring, but they really didn't drain me that much.

As a matter of fact, I felt this feeling yesterday, the same day I got that weird dream in the…I couldn't remember. The Villa Room? The Vanilla Room? It was all so hazy to me.

I decided to head back to the dorm to get some rest, maybe whatever this is will past my tomorrow. "I just hope nothing bad is happening to me" were the only thoughts that ran though my head as I walked along home.

 **And that's chapter 2. Another set-up chapter, I know. But next chapter will have something exciting happen…I hope. Regardless leave me your comments, negative or positive. I'd always like to improve myself. And as always, I hope you enjoyed reading. –ArcanaHermit**


	3. Chapter Two: Awakening

**Hey, this story has a follower. I really have to thank that guy, he boosted my confidence. Now it's time for chapter 3, where stuff happens. Hope you enjoy reading this –ArcanaHermit**

 _Midnight, Silverpoint Dormitories, 4_ _th_ _Floor Observation Room_

"So she has the power."

James was just done explaining everything that has happened since she was gone. As usual, Dr Valeria adjusted her glasses, a habit of hers when she is processing unexpected news. It didn't take her long to make a decision though.

"We'll reveal it to her tomorrow evening, with all of us present."

Damn, another meeting needing reshuffling. At this rate, I'll be fired from my job. Being student council president and a part of this team was really eating at my schedule. I barely have any time to myself nowadays.

"Are you sure? She just moved here and everything, and now we're gonna ask her to fight?"

She looked at me, eyes calm and as cold as ice.

"I understand your concern, but we need to have new members as soon as possible. The only way we can explore the Mirror Realm with any sort of safety is with at least three members on our team. And besides, wouldn't you like another member to fight alongside you?"

It wasn't that I was against having help, but something just feels wrong about dragging other people into this mess, much less another student. Perhaps it was my student council president side talking, but we shouldn't have to endanger the lives of students at all.

"I know you remained unconvinced but- wait."

My heart froze in terror. The only thing that will interrupt Dr Valeria so suddenly was…

Quickly approaching the computer console, she quickly pushed knobs and buttons until she turned to us, her face showing the slightest of concern.

"There's a large Shadow presence in town. It's in a fairly unoccupied area, but we should still deal with it as soon as possible."

James nodded and proceeded to go get our combat equipment. I feel sweat coming down, this was going to be my first time fighting these things, even after being awakened to my power.

A few minutes later, James handed me my usual weapon (an iron quarterstaff) and my backup weapon (a custom-made handgun). Despite being practiced with these weapons, the thought of what I have to face suddenly got my hand shaking.

"Don't worry; you're not going to fight it. You're staying here."

James's words caught me by surprise

"Wha-what? Why?"

"You need to take care of Kurea, just in case. Valeria and I can handle it."

I can't tell whether to be relieved that I don't have to fight, or mad that I'm not even given the option. I quickly saw Dr Valeria and James prepare themselves and head out, and I sit down on the couch, sighing.

"Please, don't let anything bad happen."

* * *

 _An hour later…_

I was pacing around the room, looking at the clock frequently. Time seems to move so slowly in these tense situations. I knew James was an experienced fighter, and he has the support of Dr Valeria, but when facing these things, anything could happen.

Suddenly, I hear a voice in my head.

— _Ca…hea…me? Lazard, can you hear me?—_

It was Dr Valeria, using her power, which pretty much indicated they defeated the Shadow already. Calming myself down, I breathe a sigh of relief and mentally prepare the words to communicate with her.

 _I'm here. Good job on beating the Shadow._

The next words she said would destroy any sense of elation or calmness that I previously had.

— _Wake Kurea up and evacuate the building. We defeated the Shadow, but I sensed another one emerged just as we were fighting it. The other presence is powerful and it's heading your direction. We're on our way but it'll take some time. I repeat, grab Kurea and evacuate immediately_ —

* * *

"Wake up. We need to get out of here."

I was suddenly awoken by the sound of hard knocking on my door. Jeez, can't a girl get some sleep?

"I'm coming, I'm coming"

I opened the door and was saw that it was Lazard, with the most worried expression I've ever seen on his face. He didn't waste any time and took me by the hand.

"We need to go. Now"

"It's the middle of the night, where are w- hey!"

I didn't even finish my sentence before began dashing to the stairs, dragging me along. Man he has one hell of a grip; it was all I could do not to fall behind. We were at the lounge before I got my bearings together and decided to question him.

"Hey, you haven't answered me. What's going on?"

Lazard didn't stop moving.

"I'll tell you everything later, for now we have to-"

Immediately after opening the door, Lazard froze in place. There was...something standing just outside on the street.

It was like something straight out of a horror movie. It looked like a bull standing up and was extremely tall, its entire body was black and slimy; it had huge red horns on its head, and was wearing a creepy yellow mask, red smoke coming out of it. There were rusty chains wrapped around its arms.

It didn't seem to react to our presence, as though it was waiting for us the entire time.

"Shit"

The creature roared loudly. It sounded like so loud and so terrifying, that I thought my heart would burst out of my chest. Lazard suddenly took position between me and the thing, and pulled out a gun from his back pocket. He looked to me and gave me a brief smile.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you."

I could sense the fear in his voice, but even so, I want to believe in him.

Facing the creature, he took out a handgun from the back of his pocket and shot him. However, the bullets simply bounced off his chest, as though it were rubber. It countered by swinging its massive arms at him at blinding speed. He attempted to dodge, but the attack was too fast and he got hit, slamming into the wall.

The creature was slowly approaching Lazard, now unconscious. If it reaches him, it'll be over for him. Fear and panic filled my mind. What do I do? What do I do?

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

Those words flashed into my mind again, like before. But unlike last time, I didn't feel dazed. I was filled with a strange emotion. It was…determination, all of my doubts were suddenly slipping away, as though I was no longer myself. I knew exactly what to do.

"HEY! OVER HERE, YOU LUMBERING DUMBASS!"

Noticing my shouting, he turned his head and faced me. He turned his head towards the sky and roared again. Suddenly, I heard a groaning noise.

"Please…run away…"

It was Lazard. He regained consciousness, but it seemed like he couldn't get up. I smiled at him, trying to put on my bravest face.

"Don't worry, I'll protect the both of us."

The creature raised his arm, preparing to strike. However, I didn't try to move. I didn't know if it was confidence or delusion, but I knew I didn't need to move.

 _Let me aid you, my child._

The voice was clearer now, sounding feminine and motherly.

A glowing blue card appeared before me, spinning. On one side was a card of a man holding a bag on a stick, the other side was the same mask logo I saw just two days ago, in that strange dream. I breathe deeply. Despite not knowing much about the situation, I knew what I had to do. What I need to do.

The creature slammed his fist down, intending to crush me. I put my hand below the card.

 _Now call me forth, and use the strength of your inner self._

The strength of my inner self…Yeah, I know what that is.

"Per…so…na…"

Crushing the card with my palm, I felt power surge through me, coursing through my entire body like electricity. The fist was just about to strike me.

Suddenly, a figure stood between me and the fist. It was floating in the air, blocking the gigantic fist with just her small pale hand. She repelled the attack, sending the creature reeling back.

The figure had long blonde hair and was wearing an extremely long robe, so long that I couldn't see her legs. On the other hand she was carrying an ornate wooden staff. Even though I'm sure this is the first time I'm seeing the figure, I felt as though I knew…"her"( I'm pretty sure it's a female), almost like I known her all along. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head again.

 _I am Harmonia, Avatar of Peace. Speak the words and I will do as you command._

Immediately a single word entered my mind. It wasn't a word I ever spoke before, but I decided to speak it anyway, no hesitation in my voice.

"Garu!"

Another surge of power flowed through my body. This time Harmonia pointed her staff at the creature, and I could feel a strong breeze. The creature was suddenly covered in a strong green wind, like a tornado. It roared and tried to break free by, but even as he tried to break free, his body was being shredded apart by the strong wind. Soon, the wind completely ripped it apart, reducing it to mere black slime.

The figure turned to me, and I got to see a good look of her. She was beautiful, with a flawless face. Her eyes weren't normal, but instead a bright azure light emanated from them. Around her neck was a golden serpent, with a jewel placed where the eye should be. She gave me a thin smile.

 _I shall always be here to protect you. Your journey has just begun._

With that, the lady Harmonia faded, leaving no trace of her presence. The black slime seemed to have faded as well. Looking at Lazard, he was awestruck at what I just did.

My mind was hazy, consciousness slipping. I took a step towards him.

And my mind blacked out after that.

* * *

 _I'm here again?_

Those were my thoughts as I saw the room around me; it was the same room that I saw in my dream two days ago. The Velvet Room.

"Greetings, it is a pleasure to see you again"

At the same place as before was Igor, with the ever usual grin on his face, and Victoria beside him.

"You seemed to have awakened to your power. For it to be Harmonia, that was quite the surprise."

I stayed silent, not knowing how to respond to that statement. Igor decided to explain further.

"What you just awakened was your Persona. It is the manifestation of your personality, the facet you use to face everyday life."

"Ur…Persona? My personality manifested?"

"Indeed, think of it as a mask that you use when you face others. A Persona is that mask given power, give life. It is power granted to those who have knowledge of their true self."

Igor made a gesture, and a piece of paper materialized in front of me. It was the same contract as last time.

"Having a Persona itself is truly powerful, but your power in particular is especially unique. In the days to come, you will require the services of this room, refining your power for the ordeal ahead. All I ask is that you abide by the contract, and take full responsibility of the path you have chosen."

I nodded, not fully understand what he's telling me, but understand enough to know that he's helping me.

"It seems that you reached an understanding. Very well, allow me to present you this."

A key suddenly appeared in my hand. It was a beautifully crafted key, with the same velvet color as the rest of the room.

"Now, there's just one last thing. You will encounter many faces along your path, and the bonds you forge with them will be essential to your strength. They are called Social Links, and they will prove to be a valuable source of power."

I'm still trying to digest what I heard. Social Links and Personas, it was all such a hard thing to take it in.

"It seems our time is up. When the time comes, you and another guest will find us again. Until then, I shall look forward to our next encounter."

With that, my vision turned white, and I slipped into unconsciousness once again.

 **And that's chapter 3. Hoo boy, that was a bit of a tough chapter to write. I hope I did OK. Regardless I hope you enjoy reading this. Leave a review if you'd like. -ArcanaHermit**


	4. Chapter Three: Social Link

**I got another two followers and a positive review. Thanks guys, I really appreciate you all. Now it's time for our first social links to form. I hope you enjoy reading.**

I opened my eyes and the saw the white ceiling above me. The bright sunlight from the right of me was shining down on my face.

"You're awake. Thank God."

I turned to face the person calling out that voice. It was Lazard, sitting on a chair. His red eyes has bags on them, and he looked like he was going to pass out any second. Has he been staying here all night?

"W-where am I?"

"You're in the town hospital. You passed out last night and we carried you here. Doctor said that all you had was some minor exhaustion, so you'll be discharged immediately after you were awake"

I sat up, and looked out the window. It was a very sunny day, perfect to go out, it's too bad I'm stuck here. I turned back to him. There were some things that needed explaining.

"What was that yesterday? There was a large…bull…thing and I summoned something inside me…I think. You better start explain yourself."

I was still trying to remember tomorrow, but despite my best efforts, I couldn't do much apart from muster some images in my mind. He looked down, and frowned.

"Sorry for not telling you anything. We were actually going to explain to you today, but it seemed that we had some really bad luck. Um…what you fought was called a Shadow, and what you summoned was called a Persona."

That same word again, Persona.

"Um…I can see that you're confused. Um, think of Shadows as your darkest emotions that becomes physical, and your Persona is your good qualities taken shape. I'm sorry, I'm not good as this. We'll explain later tonight, with all of us at the dorm."

I could sense that he was feeling guilty, and I decided to try to comfort him.

"Hey, what's wrong? I'm not mad at ya."

He looked at me, his eyes widening.

"You're not? I lied to you…and then I failed to protect you."

"Nah, I'm not really angry or anything. How can I be mad at someone who tried to protect me? And as for lying, I'm sure you had your reasons."

He finally looked at me and smiled, and I felt my heart light up a bit.

"Thanks for protecting me. I owe you my life now, so you bet I'll try to even us out…Just don't ask me for any special favors in school…hahaha."

I chuckled alongside him. Despite starting off fairly well, I felt as though I've really come to know him here. It feels like I was finally forming a bond with him.

Suddenly, I heard a shattering sound in my head, like glass breaking. Time stopped, and my head was filled a loud booming voice that rings with power.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Chariot Arcana_

The voice was over, and time seemed to resume. I couldn't help but recall what Igor said, that Social Links are provide me with a tremendous power. Could this be what he meant?

"Hey um, if you'd like we can hang out after school. I'm usually free on Wednesdays and Fridays, and I could show you the town more."

"Yeah, that'd be nice."

* * *

They quickly discharged me after I regained consciousness. Lazard said he had some things to do, so he took off in a hurry. Poor guy, he waited in my room till I got better and he still had to attend to student council stuff.

Seeing as it's already close to the end of school day, I decided to head back into the dorm. As expected, no one was there. I sighed and simply lied down on a couch and watched some TV, slowly waiting until evening came.

* * *

 _Evening, 4th floor observation room_

I went into the room, still not exactly sure what to think about all this. When I entered, Lazard was already there, greeting me with a smile. Beside him was James, who gave a slightly concerned look, but otherwise stayed silent.

Behind the both of them was an incredibly beautiful woman wearing a lab coat and glasses. She has silky red hair and a very stunning face, with eyes that seem to look directly into me. Her tall stature and curvy hips only seem to accentuate the already confident aura she gives off. She gave me a light smile.

"We're all glad you're alright. My name is Dr Valeria. Please, take a seat. It's time we talked about the situation."

With that, everyone took a seat on the three couches.

"Now, to be very blunt here, what if I told you that there is a hidden danger that can threaten all of us between the hours of midnight and 3 in the morning?"

I was dumbfounded by the question, I suppose that "hidden danger" was that Shadow thing, but what did she mean by "between midnight and 3am?"

"Before yesterday, I would have said ya were crazy, but I...kinda saw it for myself, didn't I? So I definitely believe you. But what are they, why do they attack people?"

The woman adjusted her glasses, prepared to say something heavy.

"We don't know much about Shadows, like how long they have been around, or what even are they truly. From the data gathered, all we know is that they come out in the dead of night, preying on unsuspecting people. Those who get attacked…they suffer what we like to call "Shadow Possession""

"Shadow Possession?"

"From some minor tests we got, Shadows seem to be composed of negative human emotions, particularly rage and aggression. People who get attacked by Shadows get imbued with such emotions, turning them violent, attacking anyone without reason. So far, the public believes that all the victims sudden burst of rage was due to extreme stress, but the true cause…is Shadows."

"And the only way to fight them…are these Personas?"

"Indeed. Personas are someone's psyche taken form, much like Shadows. While normal weapons are possible to kill Shadows, it's simply…ineffective. The best way to eliminate them is with Personas, as they possess the same power Shadows have."

Now it's time to answer the hard question. I didn't think Dr Valeria would lie, but I'm about to ask some pretty sensitive stuff.

"Um…so what is your role in this? I can't really imagine that you just happen to know this stuff."

In an unexpected turn of events, Dr Valeria chuckled.

"I suppose I should tell you, if I am to gain your trust. I represent a…certain organization, with ties to this city. We have been researching cases involving Personas and Shadows for years. Since those concepts would be absurd in the eyes of the government, we decided to handle this case with our own hands. However, we had no means of producing Persona users. Before you, there was only Lazard and James, and they awakened naturally."

With that, Dr Valeria gave me a badge. It looked like it was made of silver; and on the golden outline it said "E.S.T" and had a picture of a knight engraved in the middle, putting his sword on the ground.

"I know you just arrived here, but I'd like you to join us. We Persona users are the only ones who can solve this case. If you join, we will authorize exploration of where the Shadows originate, which might give us some clues. So, what do you say? If you'd like some time to consider, we shall grant you that time."

It took me all of three seconds to answer.

"I'm in. Those things hurt people, and I wanna put a stop to them. I feel...no, I know that I can do this."

Dr Valeria smiled at me, Lazard looked ecstatic, and James retained his stoic face.

"That's good to hear. Kurea Von Herz, I now appoint you an official member of the Extraordinary Subjugation Team."

I felt elated; this was going to be an interesting ride, that's for sure.

Then, the familiar shattering sound entered my head.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Fool Arcana_

Another Social Link. Another bond formed.

* * *

The rest of the meeting was just telling me stuff that I need to know about Shadows and Personas, as well as filling me in on certain stuff. It ended with Dr Valeria saying that tomorrow we were going to explore the first parts of the Shadow's origin point.

Afterwards, I just entered my room and lied on my bed, trying to take in all the information. She had warned us that any of us could suffer Shadow Possession should we lose, or even get killed. Still, I wasn't scared. Let those Shadows come, me and my Persona can deal with them, and also whoever was making this happen in the first place.

 **And that's chapter 3 done. Next up, we explore our dungeon of this little story, and finally activate that Wild Card of hers. Until then -ArcanaHermit**


	5. Chapter Four: Astryia

**Time for more Shadowed Ground. I think I've been doing well so far, thanks for all who watch this. Now it's time to explore the Tartarus/TV World of this game. I hope you enjoy reading. –ArcanaHermit**

"Hey, you're that new kid. Kurea, was it?"

I was just at my table, contemplating about what happened yesterday when someone approached me. She was a fairly attractive woman of middling height, hazelnut hair and eyes, and a goofy smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'm Kurea. Is there anything you want from me?"

"Well, it's after school, so I thought we could hang out. You don't seem to have any friends around here, apart from the student council president. Speaking of which, are you two dating?"

I blushed immediately. It seems that those rumors about me and Lazard haven't completely died down. I heard some whispering of that from time to time, but it's even more embarrassing hearing it straight up.

"N-no, nothing like that. He just showed me around school, that's all."

The girl looked frowned slightly.

"Oh, that's kind of…underwhelming. Anyways, I got this awesome Japanese restaurant on my mind. It has the best ramen you'll ever have in your life. Feel like joining me? I'm paying."

I pondered that for a second. I was technically free until the late evening, where we would begin our exploration. And I really wanted to see the city for once.

"Ah, what the heck, I'll join ya."

* * *

 _Liberty Shopping Square, Supaishi Ramen Shop_

It was a very small place. I could count only 5 tables' tops, and a counter that has 4 chairs. Still the look of the place had a very nice Oriental feeling, and most of all, the ramen tasted like I was in a heaven of soup and noodles.

"Man, this stuff is amazing. The soup is so spicy, but I oddly feel like I don't need any water. And the noodles goes amazing with this."

The girl, who earlier introduced herself as Elise Furdeaux, was also chomping down on the bowl as though her life depended on it. She would only stop to ask me questions about myself.

"So, you're from overseas, right? Can't say I've seen a last name like Herz before, or even a first name like Kurea, and you have quite the accent."

"Oh, that's because my dad's from a German family and my mother's Japanese, though they were born here and speak only English. "Herz" means "Heart" in German, and my mom named me "Kurea" because she heard from some site that it meant "Crimson", so I was "Crimson Heart", though I think that "Kurea" isn't actually an actual Japanese name, but it stuck with me anyways. As for my accent, I used to live in the north-eastern part of the country, so I think that explains it."

Elise was finally done with her noodles, leaving out a huge sigh of contentment.

"Ohhh, I thought I heard that accent before. That's understandable; my parents said that they were descended from the French, thus my rather strange last name. Why'd you come here anyways?"

"My parents are very busy and are currently on a business venture overseas, and this was my mother's hometown before she left in her teenage years, so they decided I would stay here until I complete high school."

"Ah, I see. It must be hard for you, not having any friends here. But don't worry, I'll be your friend, and we can hang out if you'd like. I love being everyone's friend."

I smiled at that comment. True, I hadn't really made a friend in school apart from Lazard, and he was always busy with student council duties. It'd be nice to have a friend to hang out once in a while.

"Yeah…I'd like that. Thank you, Elise."

Elise reached a hand towards me, her face giving me a teasing wink.

"Rule number one: I always shake the hand of a friend."

I chuckled, and shook her hand. I could feel the tightness in her grip, and the forming of our bond.

And just like that, the familiar shattering sound rings in my head.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Magician Arcana_

Another Social Link, another bond. But I still haven't seen how it helped me, not that I wouldn't accept her friendship if it didn't.

"Hey, are you alright? You spaced out for a bit there."

"Huh, oh it's nothing. Just lost in thoughts for a moment, it's no big deal."

"Oh, alright then. It's about time I head back home. I'll be seeing you, new friend of mine."

What a nice person, if a bit whimsical. I finished my noodles and decided to head back to the dorm. Our journey into the Shadow nest begins in a few hours, and the fight for our lives shall begin.

* * *

 _Silverpoint Dormitories, Basement, Late Night_

Our preparation for the venture into the Shadow nest is not exactly what I would imagine. Instead of the massively detailed plans and equipment prepared, I was shocked to see that the plan was simply a single objective: investigate the area and gather data. As for equipment, we would be wearing out school uniforms there and nothing else. Dr Valeria commented that normal armor isn't effective against the attacks that Shadows can dish out, which goes beyond physical strikes and slashes, so it'd be best to prioritize mobility over defense.

I didn't know how to fight with a real weapon, so they simply gave me a long metal rod. Lazard advised me to only use it to block or to drive away enemies, seeing as how he used that weapon before. Now he's using a simple handgun, the one he used the other day. James wielded the most traditional weapon out of all of us— a pair of serrated katana with menacing black blade, and a golden hilt with a lack of a cross guard. Just looking at him, swinging his swords and testing out his weapon before sheathing it, made it apparent that he has experience with them, as well as combat situations. Just who exactly was he?

Dr Valeria came down to the basement, wearing her lab coat as usual but no longer wearing her glasses. She looked at us and gave us a satisfying look.

"Looks like you're all prepared. It's exactly midnight, so I commence the official EST exploration of the Shadow nest."

"Um…so where are we going?"

Lazard laughed a bit in embarrassment, and James looked away from me. Dr Valeria simply chuckled while pointing behind me. When I turned around, all I could see was a huge mirror on the wall.

"Um…all I see is a mirror."

Dr Valeria went over to the mirror and put her hand on it, and the mirror seemed to swallow her hand, leaving faint black circles rippling on the surface of the mirror.

"What? How do you-?"

"Shadows don't simply come out of nowhere. They needed an access point to go to this world, and these mirrors are those access points. From midnight till three, Shadows can pass through the mirror into town, and every Persona user uses this to pass through to Astryia."

Astryia. That was the name of the Shadow nest. Quite an odd name, and one I couldn't find any connection to from the basic research that I've done (well, researching being a simple internet search). Quickly beckoning us forth, Dr Valeria passed her entire body into the mirror, and soon disappeared from view. Lazard and James calmly entered in after her.

I took a deep breath as I begin to walk in the mirror. I begin with putting my hand in. Like with Dr Valeria, it completely passed through the mirror. Closing my eyes, I ran headfirst into the mirror, preparing myself for what I'm about to see.

* * *

 _Astryia, Ground Level_

It was as though I was passing through nothing but air as I was going through the mirror. When my entire body got through, I stumbled down on to the ground. James helped me up, and I looked at my surroundings.

It wasn't something I ever seen before. It was a large crimson hallway with a checkered floor, gigantic black pillars on either side. On the ceiling was a giant chandelier hanging down, its candles blazing more wildly than any normal flame I've seen. Multiple empty human size cages also hung down from the ceiling, the metal rusted and bloody.

And most of all, at the end of the hallway was a giant staircase leading up to a giant opening in the wall, the railings having spikes. The atmosphere was very oppressive, as though someone was judging us at all times. I was still looking at the scenery when Dr Valeria spoke up.

"Welcome to Astryia, otherwise known as the Mirror Realm. As I've said before, it is the place in which the Shadows originate. You'll only be exploring the first floor, and I will be providing tactical assistance from down here."

"Uh…I'm still new to this, so I don't know how this works."

Valeria adjusted her glasses and a card appeared in front of her, showing a picture of a beautiful woman wearing a crown. Crushing it with her hand, a giant figure loomed over her. She had long black hair that reached all the way to her waist, and was wearing an ornate robe of dark red and gold, a golden headpiece on her head. Her eyes were as black as her hair, and her face had light brown skin with a red dot on her forehead. The most bizarre thing however, was that she had four arms; two of them were carrying a mysterious stringed instrument that I have never seen before.

 _/Can all of you hear me? /_

I could hear Dr Valeria's voice. But it wasn't coming from her mouth; it was coming from the inside of my head, almost like how Harmonia spoke in my head.

 _/It seems by the look on your face that you are fully capable of hearing me. That's good to know, now try to answer with your mind. Voice out your thoughts./_

" _W-what? How are you doing this?"_

 _/ Saraswati has the ability to communicate telepathically with other Persona Users, as well as scanning enemies for weaknesses and providing information on unseen areas. In short, I'll be acting as mission control while the three of you investigate. Now, with that issued covered up, shall we begin? /_

* * *

 _1_ _st_ _Block Zorn, 1_ _st_ _Floor_

The first floor looked much like the floor below, with its crimson walls and oppressive atmosphere. But instead of the one giant straight hallway, the floor was almost labyrinth-like in its structure: Winding hallways that seem to have no patterns, with most branching paths leading to dead ends.

So far there were no signs of enemies, which made me antsy. There should be some stairs that lead us to the next floor.

 _/Up ahead and to your right, four weak Shadows. This should be no problem for you/_

Just as she said, the pathway to the right led to a large room. Within in were four small bird-like creatures, except that their wings seem to lack feathers, instead having the same black slime as the bulls.

 _/It is weak to physical attacks. Lazard, you're up/_

Lazard then step forwards towards the creatures, smiling smugly. A card formed in his hand, with a picture of a man riding a chariot.

"Let me handle this. Run them through, Ramses!"

Breaking the card, a figure materialized in front of him. I could only see the back of it, but it seemed to be a tanned looking man riding an ornate chariot of gold. Pulling the chariot were two stone beasts that looked like they had the bodies of felines.

"Charge through, Swift Strike!"

With a flick of his leather whip the beasts started to move wildly, charging itself at the Shadows. While two were able to dodge out of its way, the other two were caught by the stone beast's charge and were trampled, reducing them to slime.

While the other two were still reeling from getting out of the way, James moved in with blinding speed and attacked both of them with his katana, a clean diagonal slash to each of them. The blade sliced through them effortlessly, and soon they were also reduced to puddles of slime.

 _/Enemies defeated. Good work. Be careful, there might be more/_

Lazard turned to me and smiled, though this time it was more a smile of confidence than smugness.

"So, how'd you like my Persona?"

"It's amazing; it looked unstoppable when it charged. But why didn't James use his?"

James replied instead. It was the first time he spoke to me, in a cold voice that instantly sends a chill down my spine.

"I only use my Personas on foes that are worth my time. Now, if you're done, I'd like to find the stairs."

With that, we resumed our search for the stairs. After a few more battles, we're eventually able to find the stairs.

The next floor was different than the winding hallway that was the first floor. It looked similar to the ground floor, however instead of a staircase at the end; it was a large metal door with spikes.

 _/My senses detects several powerful presences ahead. I think this there are foes like these all over certain floors in Astryia, acting as guardians, each one farther and farther from the last. I suggest we handle this the next time. You gathered enough data. For now, head back to the main floor. Now, there is a device to your right that will transport you to the ground floor and back/_

I looked to my right and I an anomaly on the floor, there was a green light where a tile should be, and as I looked closer, I could see it was like a portal. I jumped in and green light enveloped me, and before I knew it, I was at ground floor, facing Valeria and her Persona.

As I moved towards her, I noticed my body moving very sluggishly. Odd, I didn't feel this way before. Why am I feeling so tired now? Valeria looked at me and instantly guessed the answer in my mind.

"This place takes more energy than the real world, so your first few nights here will be a bit tiring. Don't worry, you'll acclimate soon enough."

With Lazard and James appearing right behind me, we all took a step into the mirror we used to get here. We soon emerged where we started, the dormitory basement. Once Valeria gave us permission to leave, I immediately went to my room and slept.

My consciousness was slipping away, and my mind was about to sleep. It was my first day fighting Shadows with them. I could sense their Persona's powers, bright and beautiful like mine.

The only weird thing I thought was James. He didn't use his Persona because he said he could easily kill them with his normal weapons, but something is still off. I couldn't say for sure, but it felt like he had a menacing aura around him, a dark power lurking beneath.

Maybe it was just my imagination. It had been a long night exploring that place. With all these thoughts gone from my head, I quickly and soundly slept.

 **Done and over with. Woo, that was tiring. Guess we won't see the Wild Card till some time after. Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading. -ArcanaHermit**


	6. Social Link Scramble I

**It's time for our first Social Link Scramble, which is a chapter that focuses on nothing but Social Links. These will take place in between their trips to Astryia. Regardless I hope you enjoy our little deviation from the normal Shadowed Ground chapter. -ArcanaHermit**

 _School, 2_ _nd_ _floor, Class 4-E_

It was during class that I finally discovered the unfortunate side effects of exploring Astryia, namely, not having enough energy to pay attention in class. It was all I could do not to doze off, which would definitely score bad points with the teacher.

"Now class, I'm here to inform you that the sports teams are all currently looking for members. If you happen to be interested, go look it up at the bulletin board."

Despite my lack of energy, that was a line that caught my attention. Sports club, huh? I recalled when I was at my old school. Sports were the one of the only times where I was allowed to make some noise, and I've been attending their sports events ever since. Maybe I should join one of those clubs.

I heard the school bell ring. Thank god, classes are finally done. I slowly head down to the main hall where the bulletin board is, bumping into several students due to my sleepiness. Looking at it, I saw that they were many more sports teams that I thought.

"Let's see...football, baseball…wow, they even have a golf club? Rugby, fencing…oh, there's a tennis club."

Tennis was one of my favorite sports growing up. Most of the girls my age were interested in softball or hockey, but somehow tennis just spoke to me. I still remember the racket my mother gave me when I was only 10, and me squealing in delight. Yeah, that's the club I'm going to join.

* * *

Sprinting to the gym, I saw the sign outside that says "Tennis Club" and entered. It was definitely a sports club alright, the scent of sweat can be smelled from a mile away, and people are playing tennis, practicing their skills against each other. It really brings back a lot of memories for me.

"Um…I'd like to join the tennis club."

The people in the club looked at with curiosity, pointed at two people, and continued their practice. Those two people approached me. One was a redheaded girl with a muscular build; the other was a very thin boy who looked so frail I thought he would fall over from the slightest breeze. The boy gave me a weak looking smile and introduced himself.

"Ah, you must be the new transfer student. Welcome to the tennis club. My name is Jon Ortiz, the club leader. And this is my fellow club member, Jane Dustins."

The redheaded girl grinned happily.

"So happy to meet you, I hope you can give me some good competition. So far the only one out of these sluggards that can keep up with me is Jon."

"Hey, the others take offense to that comment, Jane."

"Well, it's not my fault they can't beat me."

They began bickering like an old married couple. Clearly they've known each other for a long time, the way they talked to each other like that. They soon realized that I was still there, and turned to me, the both of them blushing lightly.

"S-sorry about that, we fight a lot. Anyways, the club meets every Tuedays and Fridays, with the occasional weekend meeting. Attendance is not mandatory, so you should only come when you're not busy with anything else."

"Um, thank you. I'll try to attend whenever I can. My name is Kurea Von…Kurea…Von..."

My voice was stuttering. Guess I'm even more tired than I though. After a few tries, I managed to speak my full name.

"Ah, glad you're joining us, Kurea. You seem very tired, so why don't you go home for now. We can practice together another time."

Just as we were exchanging phone numbers, a familiar shattering sound entered my head.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Moon Arcana_

And with that, one new bond was formed. At least that was what I thought. But it seems the voice wasn't done as I heard the same shattering voice.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Strength Arcana_

Not one, but two bonds. But which one is which? I guess I'll find out when I find out. For now, I'm just too tired to even guess.

After we exchanged phone numbers, I left the gym and immediately head on to the dormitory. The way I'm feeling right now, there's going to be a looong sleep in store for me when I get back.

* * *

 _The Next Day_

 _Liberty Shopping Square, Supaishi Ramen Shop,_

I was slurping the shop's delicious ramen, Elise slurping alongside me. Seeing as how I had nothing to do today, I decided to hang out with her. Our talks mostly consist of what high school students talk about: homework, teachers, and other students. All the while our taste buds are being pampered by the amazing ramen.

"So, you hang out at Silverpoint Dorms right?"

"Yeah, it's a nice place."

"I can imagine, you get to live with the student council president. You know how many girls would kill to be in your position?"

I sighed. She was always teasing me about my relationship with Lazard, even when I told her I wasn't dating him. She's just doing it to get a reaction out of me, but I can't help but oblige.

"I told you we're not dating. Besides, are you interested in him?"

"Huh? No, he's cool and all. But he isn't my type of guy."

An opportunity for me to turn the tables, I can't miss out on it.

"So…what is your type?"

Elise flushed and immediately looked down on the ground.

"Er…well, I like the kind of guys that are cute and reliable, you know? I mean, Lazard is both of those I suppose, but he's so busy with student council duties that I don't think I'll ever go for him. What about you, what's your type?"

I simply gave her an uncaring shrug, which lead her to pout.

"Hey, no fair"

After a while, we just laughed and finished our noodles. Despite our teasing, we didn't really mean anything malicious towards each other. I felt our bond grow closer, and the shattering noise returns.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Magician Arcana_

The noise was gone.

"Anyways, I gotta run. See ya later, friend of mine"

With that, Elise left the money on the counter and left the shop. I decided to head back to the dorm as well.

A bond has been strengthened, huh? I wonder what purpose that will serve. I'm sure I'll find out in due time. The next trip to Astyria was starting tomorrow, and I need to prepare as much as I can.

 **Social Link Scramble done. Next up, our first boss fight as a party. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading this -ArcanaHermit**


	7. Chapter Five: Wild Card

**Alright, time for more Shadowed Ground. I'm honestly a bit scared of writing this, but I will press on for the 3 of you follow me. I hope you enjoy this chapter –ArcanaHermit**

 _Astryia, 2_ _nd_ _Floor_

We were standing just in front of the large door, prepared to fight whatever Shadows lurked inside. After training a bit with our Personas in the first floor (minus James, who still stuck to his katanas), we were ready to tackle the first guardians of Astryia.

 _/Alright, everyone is ready. You may proceed with caution./_

Pushing the door we entered into what seemed to be a large round hall, with three figures inside. They looked like giant beetles with golden wings, a shiny purple body, and a long neck leading to purple mask shaped like a crown. They immediately looked as us, and began roaring loudly, trying to intimidate us.

I heard a slamming sound, and looked behind to see the door behind us close shut. Well, looks like we either win…or die.

 _/I'm scanning them, we should get some data in a…what? I can't get a reading off them. Stay vigilant and be prepared for anything/_

James and Lazard both looked at me, determination burning in their eyes. We all exchanged a quick nod and took positions: Lazard on the left, James on the right, and me behind and center.

One of the Shadows charged towards us, intent on slamming its head at us, we quickly dodged out of the way. Lazard summoned a card and shot it with his gun.

"Come, Ramses!"

Lazard summoned his Persona and it immediately charged at the enemy at full speed. However, unlike the other times it hit an enemy, where it would simply trample it over; it stopped when it collided with the Shadow, barely moving it.

 _/Damn it, the Shadow resists physical attacks? /_

The Shadow overpowered the Persona, crashing its head at it and shattering it. Lazard staggered. That's the downside to Personas: When they shatter, the user feels part of the pain. It didn't physically hurt them, but get shattered too much and we'll faint from the physical strain.

The other two Shadow sensed Lazard's weakness and charged towards him from the left and right. Lazard was still reeling from earlier, so he had no time to react to the enemy's attacks. I quickly flew into a panic.

 _Shit, what do I do? I can't protect him from both attacks…_

"Kurea, you block off the right, I'll handle the one on the left."

It was James voice, but it was different. Unlike the other times, the voice wasn't a cold one, it was determined. His face seemed to have changed too, almost like he's a different person. I quickly pull myself together and summoned a card in front of me. James did the same, only his card was tinted red, with a picture of a man holding a scale on one hand and a sword on the other.

"Come, Harmonia!"

"Come…Nemesis!"

We both shattered our cards at once, and immediately two figures appeared in front of Lazard, stopping the charge from the two Shadows. One was Harmonia, the Persona I've used all this time.

The other was James's Persona, called Nemesis. This is the first time I've seen his Persona. From the back it looked like a humanoid figure, with wild black hair and holding a black rapier in one end, chains wrapped around its other hand. On the back of his white robe was a cross-sword emblazoned onto it, and it gave off a menacing grey aura.

"Nemesis, Cleave"

"Harmonia, Bash"

Both of our Personas complied with our orders, swinging their weapons down onto the Shadows. The force of the attack was enough to send them reeling back, though it didn't actually hurt them. Lazard finally recovered and regrouped with us, and we took our defensive positions.

 _/This is bad, I don't think our Persona's can seriously injure them. We need something other than what we have to take them down /_

 _Hee-ho. Hee-ho. Hello, User._

A voice appeared in my head. It was a voice of a Persona, but it wasn't Harmonia. Suddenly, a card appeared without the need for me to call for it. It was different from Harmonia's card, a man holding a wand to the sky, an Infinity Symbol above him in flames.

 _Let me take care of them for you. Hee-ho._

"Burn all who opposes….Pyro Jack."

Crushing the card in my hand, a Persona appeared. He looked like a small boy wearing a blue robe and a wizard's hat. On one hand he was holding a lantern and, most bizarre of all, it had a pumpkin for a head.

 _Hee-ho. Let's burn these suckers._

I nodded, and the words flashed in my mind. Words of power, of fire.

"Agi!"

Pyro Jack raised his lantern up, and crimson fire surged forth from it towards the two Shadows, covering them in flames. They began screaming in agony as their shiny bodies turned into the same black slime as the other Shadows, and soon there was nothing but smoke.

"No way…"

 _/Was that…/_

"So…she has the wild card"

Lazard and even James looked at me with shock. To be honest, I was just as surprised as them. Focusing back on the battle, I commanded Pyro Jack to finish the last Shadow. But by now it has begun dodging the flames, trying it's best to stay alive.

"I can't hit this thing."

"Let me do this. Chain them down, Nemesis."

James summoned his Persona, but instead of using its sword, the chains on its other hand flew right at it. The Shadow tried to dodge, but there were too many and soon it was entangled in them. Nemesis dragged the Shadow towards down, the Shadow struggling with all its might.

 _/It's down, now's your chance/_

"Pyro Jack, Agi!"

Fire hit the Shadow, with no chance of escaping, burning until there was nothing left of it. Pyro Jack tipped his hat off to me before fading away. I sat down, tired and shocked at what just occurred.

I had more than one Persona. From what I heard, people should only have one, yet here I was, using another one as easily as I did Harmonia. I heard a slamming sound and saw that both doors, the exit to the hallway and the entrance to the next floor, were wide open.

 _/Good work, we will explore the floors next time. For now, fall back and regroup/_

* * *

 _Astryia, Ground Floor_

As we were teleported to the ground floor, my eye immediately caught the shining blue door that's standing behind Dr Valeria.

"When did that door get in here?"

Dr Valeria turned behind her, and turned back to me with a look of confusion.

"What door?"

What? There's no door there, but I clearly see it. Why couldn't she? I instinctively went towards it. My pocket suddenly glowed, and I pulled it out to see the key Igor gave me. Could this door be…?

I inserted the key into the keyhole and opened the door, and was greeted with a flash of white.

* * *

 _The Velvet Room_

"Welcome to the Velvet Room"

I saw in the Velvet Room again, with Igor and Victoria sitting right in front of me.

"I've see that you have discovered your new power. It is the power of the wild card."

"Wild Card?"

"Yes. Think of it like the number zero…empty, yet with infinite potential. My task is to help you refine your power through Persona Fusion"

"Persona…Fusion?"

"Over the course of your journey, many Personas shall emerge from the sea of your soul. I will combine them together to make even more powerful Personas. That is the purpose of the Velvet Room. And as you gain more Social Links and strengthened you bond, the more powerful your Personas of that Link will be."

I see, so that's the purpose of it: Social Links, Igor, and The Velvet Room. It was all for the purpose of these…Persona Fusions.

"Ah, I would also like to inform you of one last thing: another user of the Wild Card. Your antitheses, as it were. Just as one represents the shining light of the Wild Card, the other represents the dark side of the Wild Card. One strengthens through bonds, and one strengthens through solitude, one representing calm order, another representing wild chaos. Opposites…yet similar, two sides of the same coin."

Another Wild Card user? Who could it be? My mind begun to spun.

"Do not worry; let time deal out its slow surprises. You have no need of our power for the moment, so we shall end our meeting here. Until next we meet, our dear visitor."

My mind begun to flash, and soon my sight was enveloped in white.

* * *

"Kurea? Kurea! You looked spaced out for a second."

I turned around and saw Lazard looking at me, a worried look on his face. Dr Valeria's look was one of confusion, and James merely stared at me intently.

"Um, it's nothing. Let's go."

We all returned to the real world and went back to our rooms. Dr Valeria said they would discuss my special power at another date.

I decided to take in all the news I had just learned before I slept: The Purpose of Social Links, The Velvet Room, and the existence of another Wild Card. I contemplated what would all of that fit in, but I just couldn't fit the pieces, as there were still too many blank holes. Why did Astryia exist? Why truly are Shadows? Who is all behind this? I doubt Igor would tell me, but I suppose I'll figure it out as I go along.

"This…definitely has been…an interesting trip…ehhh"

 **And done. Now there will be more SOCIAL LINK SCRAMBLES! Until next time, dear viewers. -ArcanaHermit**


	8. Social Link Scramble II

**It's time for another round of…Social Link Scramble. Also just a heads up, I probably won't be showing any Persona Fusions, so if our protagonist happens to use a new Persona, just assume she got it from the Velvet Room offscreen. Now, time for the Social Links –ArcanaHermit**

 _School Gym, After Hours  
_

My body felt sore all over from all the practice, but I was as pumped as ever. Tennis club was pretty exhilarating. Our routine started with us doing our basic exercises. After that, we would all be paired up and faced off against one another, and after around 10 minutes we would switch opponents. It was an odd regiment, but pretty fun all around.

Even though the whole thing lasted 3 hours, it felt like such a short time, fighting fellow club member after fellow club member. I would win more often than I would lose, and even in my losses it was pretty close. The only two exceptions were Jon and Jane, who, for lack of a better word, trashed me whenever we would square off.

Man, those guys were tough, Jane especially. Her serves were so powerful that I had a hard time keeping up swing for swing. Jon, despite how fragile he looks, was not as powerful, but fast enough to counter any offensive I tried to mount on him, often winning on attrition. I can see why they were the two best players on the team.

Jon and Jane approached me and handed me a cold drink, which I accepted graciously. All that practice left me very thirsty. They sat beside me on the bench and we began making some small talk.

"Man, you guys were amazing. I couldn't keep up with the two of you."

"Hey, don't cut yourself short, Kurea. I hadn't had a close match with anyone other than Jon for weeks. Keep it up and soon you'll be taking a few games off us"

"Heh, we'll see. So uh…how did you two meet?"

"Huh, you mean me and Jane? Well our parents are old friends, so we kind of knew each other since we were young. We went to the same schools, had the same friends and interests, I think we were even the first two new members to join the Tennis Club last year. We just sort of…were, I guess."

"Yeah, he and I are as thick as thieves, not to mention he gives me a good round of tennis. Anyways, I got to go, mom needs some errands done."

After waving her goodbye, I volunteered to help clean up the gym alongside Jon. After doing so, we decided to walk back home together, at least until we had to take separate routes.

"I'm still surprised you're so physically fit. No offense, but you kind of look scrawny."

"Oh, I get that a lot. I work out, eat healthy, and can run like no one's business, but I still can't seem to grow beyond this fragile looking body. Oh well, better than actually being fragile I suppose."

"So, you guys intend to go pro with tennis? I've seen you two play, and you guys could really make it if you tried."

Jon looked down, a slightly worried look on his face.

"Nah, I don't think so. Jane probably will go pro though, she always had a passion for sports. I just entered the tennis club because she wanted me to do it. I'll stick with just club activities and occasional tournaments."

"Then why did you become club leader?"

"Huh? Oh, it's because I was the only one that was good at that, I suppose. Attendance lists, rosters, management, cleaning up the gym. The others saw that I was better than everyone and just chose me as a candidate. Ah, it seems this is where we part ways."

So it seems, as we were approaching a junction. The way to the dorms in to the right, but the path to the other residential areas, where Jon lives, is to the left.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you next time at the gym?"

"Or during lunchtime, you're free to join me and Jane anytime. It's been a while since we both happen to like the same person. Stay safe, Kurea."

"Yeah, you too."

I smiled at the offer. I felt as though I knew him better, however little that may be. As he began walking away from me, I soon hear the familiar shattering sound.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Moon Arcana_

The noise was gone, and soon he was out of sight. I decided to go and hurry back to the dorm as well, I had a show I needed to catch.

* * *

 _Liverty Shopping Centre, Shining Comic Books_

"Hmm, I wonder if I have enough money to buy all of this. Hard covers are getting expensive these days."

I was sitting at a bench in the book store, looking at Lazard. He seemed to be happy, picking out all of his favorite comic books and putting it on a stack beside me. He suddenly looked at me, a worried expression on his face.

"Uh…sorry, am I boring you? We could go to another place if you'd like"

"Nah, I'm having fun just watching you gush over comic books. I didn't think you were that kind of guy."

"Well yeah, I liked comics ever since I was a kid, couldn't go a week without reading one of those things."

He blushed slightly before checking his wallet, and smiled a bit.

"Hmm, looks like I have just enough to buy all of this if I cut down on my school lunch. Wait right here, I'll be right back after I buy these comics."

He took the stack of books and began taking them to the cash register. It's been a nice weekend so far, for the both of us. No Astryia visits, no school, and we even get to hang out. While he is usually busy during school week, I figured he'd be free during the weekends and asked if he wanted to hang out, which he happily agreed. It was nice seeing this side of him, as a friend instead of a team member or fellow Persona user.

He returned with a smile of his face, all the comic books he bought in a large paper bag. Together we left the bookstore and began walking around the shopping centre. We both knew we were probably not going to buy anything, Lazard especially since he bought all those comics, but it would be a nice stroll before we headed back into the dorm.

"Do you read comic books, Kurea? I saw you peeking at a few while I was looking for mine."

"I do on the occasion, but only when I visit the bookstore. I'm the kind of girl that reads it at the there but never buys them. I never liked spending, so I always spend my money on nothing but food."

We continued to make small talk like that until we eventually decided to walk back to the dorm. By then it was sunset, and Lazard had a nostalgic look in his eye.

"You like sunsets?"

"Yeah, I seem to have a lot of good memories around sunset. When I was little, my dad would take me to a nearby hill and watch the sun come down together, with nice cold cans of root beer. When I was elected student council president, we had a party celebrating it, and I saw a sunset like this after it was over."

Well, this was definitely not what I thought I'd see, Lazard being soft and sentimental.

"Heh, never thought you could be such a softie."

"Well, I'd like to remember about stuff like this, especially since we could...lose...anytime we go to Astryia."

There was suddenly a somber silence. We all knew that was the risk, and we chose it freely, but it's still depressing when said out loud. I decided that I should break the tension.

"Don't worry; we've been destroying every Shadow that faced us. I'm sure there's nothing we can't handle as long as we work together."

"Y-yeah, especially since you have the power to use multiple Personas. I'm sure we're unstoppable. Thanks…I always seem to owe you something, whether it's saving my life or just trying to get rid of my gloomy statements."

"Don't worry about it, that's what friends are for. Helping each other out, and all that sentimental stuff."

"Yeah, I got your back against whatever troubles you got, Shadows or otherwise."

It gave me a bit of comfort, knowing that I have his support. I felt our bond tighten, and the same shattering noise returned.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Chariot Arcana_

The voice disappeared. We continued to make small talk on our way to the dorm, only occasionally bringing up events in Astryia. We will be heading there tomorrow, but I'm sure that we'll succeed like we always do.

 **And that's it for Social Link Scramble. Catch us next time as the plot thickens… -ArcanaHermit**


	9. Chapter Six: Prelude To A War

**Time for more Shadowed Ground, rejoice! Man, I never expected that I'd be writing this often. It brings me great comfort. I thank each and every one of you who reads this. Now let us begin. –ArcanaHermit**

 _School Hallway, Lunchtime, April 14_ _th_

"One school lunch, please."

As the lady handed me my lunch, I was pondering on where to eat. Usually I would just eat at my class with Elise or try to find Jon and Jane, but Elise was sick and Jon and Jane were busy, so my choices were limited. I honestly don't like eating in a noisy environment, unless it's with a friend. That was one of the only advantages of my old school.

As I turned around, I noticed that Lazard was posting things on the bulletin board. Approaching him and giving him a light tap on the shoulder, we exchanged greetings.

"So, you up for some lunch?"

"No, I had my lunch early since I have stuff to do during lunchtime. Sorry."

"Oh, it's alright…Hey, weird question, but do you know of a place where I can eat in peace? I don't really like eating with all the noise around me."

"Oh, just go to the rooftop. Nobody usually goes there, so it's quiet, and has quite a view as well."

Thanking him, I quickly ran off to the roof, my lunch in hand.

* * *

 _School Rooftop_

As I just entered the rooftop, I saw that someone was already there, looking out into the distance. Though I can only see him from the back, I knew who that was.

"James, what are you doing here?"

James turned around, giving me the same stoic expression that he usually gives. He then turned back around again, looking into the distance once more.

"I just come here when I have nothing better to do. Why are you here?"

"Oh, I just came here to eat in peace and quiet."

"I can…understand the sentiment. Eating in the presence of others is an annoyance."

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that but…"

Taking a seat on the floor, I began to eat my lunch. As I was eating, I felt more and more unnerved. He and I are the only ones here, and he's being silent throughout. I felt as though I needed to speak up, to start a conversation. Every time I saw him it was at the dorm, not at school, and every time we talked it was always a discussion about our missions in Astryia.

"So um…how was your day?"

After some silence, he responded, his head still looking onto the blue sky in front of him.

"It was a normal day, nothing special. We're heading to Astryia tonight, just to remind you."

…This wasn't a great start to the conversation. Regardless, I continued to try and engage in meaningful talks with him.

"Um, so…what are you staring at?"

"…Nothing in particular, just looking at the sky."

"I see, that's nice I suppose. So uh…how did you get caught into this? You've known all this longer than Lazard, right?"

After I said that, there was a long silence. It seems he didn't want to talk about it. Oh man, did I make him mad? I scrambled in an attempt to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to prod into your bus-"

"I am part of the same organization as Dr Valeria. They saw I had the power to wield Personas, and so they assigned me to EST as its first member, other than Valeria."

"Oh, I see"

As I was just about to ask another question, the school bell rang, signaling that lunch was over. James immediately walked towards the door, but not before looking at me one last time.

"You should already know this, but you better give it your all in Astryia. This case will all be depending on our actions for the nights to come.."

And with that, he walked back downstairs. As I was about to walk there myself, the shattering sound in my head stopped me.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Hermit Arcana_

Another Social Link was made, though I get the feeling that this one will be more…difficult than most. I brushed all those thoughts aside and made my way back to my classroom.

* * *

 _Silverpoint Dormitories, James's Room_

"There have been 5 new cases of Shadow Possession over the last week. While cases have dropped overall this month, it's not exactly a ludicrous claim to say that the situation is changing, if only slightly"

I was sharpening my weapons with a simple whetstone, pondering at how to respond to Valeria's statement. It's true; the number of cases has dropped after our ventures into Astryia. Still, 5 in a week is quite a severe number of victims over such a short period.

"I suppose it's a logical assumption. Still, 5 is a very small number, so it's clear the Shadows aren't attack en masse. Have you been able to get any readings lately on this side, Shadow or otherwise?"

Valeria sighed, and shook her head in frustration.

"No. Even when I was able to summon Saraswati during the 3 hour time limit, my analytical powers are still considerably weaker here. I can't get a reading unless it's something strong like the two Shadows we faced before."

That's to be expected. During the hours of 12 to 3, it's technically possible for Personas to exist, however an arbitrary rule that may be. Still, compared to summoning one in a place like Astryia, their power is far more limited and takes a great deal of concentration for it to even materialize.

"Then all we can do is to venture forth through Astryia, no need to tell the other members news that would alarm them."

She adjusted her glasses, I knew what she was about to say almost instantly.

"Speaking of the other members, Kurea in particular fascinates me. She has the ability to wield multiple Personas with ease, and in a much less limited way to boot."

I got ticked at that statement slightly. Though I had to agree that her powers has much more variety than my own, it still irks me that someone like her just happened to stumble here the day those two Shadows attacked. I couldn't find a correlation with my research, but it's hard to pass it as mere coincidence.

"Speaking of our new members, shouldn't you at least try to bond with them, James? I know that your past has made you…weary of any sort of attachment, but-"

I cut her off before she spoke another word, I knew what she was going to say. I didn't need a lecture on bonds or friendship; I know where that path will take me, despite her attempts to tell me otherwise.

"All that matters is that we work well when we fight Shadows, and that's all that should ever matter. Now is there anything you'd like to update me on before I return to my weapon maintenance? We have a mission tonight."

Valeria sighed once more, as she often does when she engages in conversation with me.

"We are almost completing our scanning of the school students, and we should know if any of the students have the potential. That's all I have to tell you."

With that she left the door, shutting it behind me. Once I resume and eventually finished sharpening my blades, I sat down on my bed, counting down the minutes till my calling has been renewed.

 _I am nothing but a weapon. I only exist for battle. I need no other purpose…_

Those were the promises I made to myself, that I would remind myself every so often. As the clock continued to tick towards our mission into Astryia, I repeated these phrases in my head again and again, always remembering why I exist.

 _I am nothing but a weapon…_

* * *

 _Astryia, Zorn Block, Floor 19_ _th_

As we entered into the large circular room that indicated that a guardian Shadow was present, the door behind us slammed shut, and the Shadow descended from above.

It was only one this time, but it was bigger than any other Shadow we faced beforehand. It looked almost human-like in its features and appearance, were it not for the fact that its body looks like it was made out of steel, as well the ominous yellow mask that it wore.

 _/I managed to gather some data, though not much. It has no particular resistances, but I couldn't pinpoint its weakness. The rest is up to you/_

As we got into position, the Shadows raised its hand. Darkness from the nearby shadows seemed to form around it, until it took a form of an ominous black sword. It swung the sword down, and though it was fast, we managed to dodge it in time.

"Come, Nemesis"

"Charge through, Ramses."

Through our efforts in Astryia, we managed to get a simple but effective routine going, with James and Lazard starting off with their Personas charging at the Shadow, trying to test its strength. As both Personas struck the Shadow, there was a loud booming sound. It got pushed back and staggered, but it didn't sustain any notable damage.

"Come, Omoikane"

A figure that looked like a brain with tentacle appeared before me, it was the first time I was using this Persona, it didn't even belong to any of the Social Links I had. Still, it should be enough.

"Zio!"

Lightning surged forth from its tentacles and raced towards the Shadow, shocking it. Growling in pain, the Shadow knelt to one knee, weakened by the electricity rushing through and paralyzing its metallic body.

 _/It's weak, finish it off with an all-out attack/_

We all summoned our Personas at once, attacking it simultaneously with all our might. There was just giant dust cloud, and when it settled, all that remained were black smile. We beat the guardian.

Yet the door leading to the next floor did not open, as it usually does when we beat the guardian. I looked at the others in confusion, and they returned the look right back at me. We reported the situation to Valeria.

 _/Hmm, there seems to be a secondary seal keeping the door from opening. Since we can't go any further, let's head back and discuss this at a later date/_

We complied with the order, and returned back to the first floor. Once everything was over and accounted for, we headed back to the real world and went to bed. My mind was still wondering about that door. What was that secondary seal that prevented the door from entering? What else do we need to do to explore further? I decided to not think about it too much as I drifted off to sleep.

 **And done, whew. I thought I would give myself some reprieve by just spamming Social Link Scrambles, but that would be boring so…yeah. Next episode won't be a Scramble either, we're actually gonna move the plot. Until then -ArcanaHermit**


	10. Chapter Seven: Magician Part I

**Time for our first boss encounter, this ought to be exciting. Anyways, let us began the latest chapter of Shadowed Ground. –ArcanaHermit**

 _School Gates_

As I was walking back to the dorm, I couldn't help but notice an odd occurrence. Elise asked to hang out with me, and the Tennis Club was open, yet I didn't go to either. It's really weird for me to turn down something like this, but I couldn't say yes for some reason.

I suddenly felt my chest tighten. I couldn't shrug it off, but I feel as though something bad is about to happen. I couldn't quite understand why though. Regardless, I decided to turn my slow walk into a run, wondering if a short nap will make this feeling go away.

* * *

 _Midnight, Silverpoint Dormitories, Observation Room_

(Beep beep beep)

I was mostly thinking about irrelevant things until I heard that beeping noise, and immediately got up. There was only one reason why that noise was made.

"There's a Shadow?"

Dr Valeria turned away from the operating console and gave me a look of utter shock. If she looked this surprised, clearly things are worst than just a simple stray Shadow.

"Wake the others, James. We have a worse-case senario."

* * *

Lazard and I went up to the observation room, still half-asleep but nevertheless aware of the situation. There was only one reason we would be woken up like this, so we were preparing for the worst.

Dr Valeria was inside, looking as flustered as I've ever seen her. Despite that, she managed to calmly explain the situation to us.

"Normally when we get a signal of a Shadow in the real world, it's usually a stray. In those cases, I merely send James to destroy it. But the signal I picked up was far worst. Masses of Shadows, concentrated on a single area of the town."

The two of us immediately panic. With that many Shadows in one place, the whole town could suffer Shadow Possession. And if they spread out, it would be even worse. Dr Valeria noticed our concern and adjusted her glasses.

"So far they haven't gone out of that area, but we better hurry and contain the situation before the Shadows decide to move into other areas. We can't risk the town flying into a panic."

We all nodded and prepared our weapons and gear. And with that we followed her instructions to the location of the Shadows.

* * *

 _Liverty City, Shopping Mall Entrance_

We all gathered near the entrance and waited for Dr Valeria to summon her Persona. It took her way longer than usual to do so since this isn't Astryia, but she managed to summon it after a while.

 _/…This is impossible, the interior of the mall feels...different than normal, bigger and more ominous, crawling with Shadows. It's almost like it's…Astryia /_

We all looked at her, confused. The inside of the mall is like Astryia? How is that possible? She immediately sensed our thought and tried to calm us down.

 _/I got a strong signal inside the complex that's resonating with the entire building. It's just a hunch, but if you manage to destroy that signal, the mall will return to normal. We need to hurry though, I get the feeling that the Shadows won't stay there for long if we don't do something. I'll provide backup as usual /_

Understanding the urgency of the situation, we rushed to the entrance of the mall, opening the door with the key Dr Valeria gave us earlier and heading inside without hesitation.

* * *

 _Magician's Maze, 1_ _st_ _Floor_

"W-what is this?"

We were all astounded by what we saw. Granted, we didn't really know what to expect when we entered, but this definitely caught us by surprise.

Instead of a normal mall, or even the floors inside Astryia, the inside looked like some sort of circus gone wrong. All along the wall were curtains adored with white masks of all shapes and sizes. The floor was also red laced with gold, and the curtains shifted color as though it were a constantly distorted rainbow. Tiny spotlights were shining brightly at the carpet's side, pointing the way forward. This is definitely different from what we're used to.

 _/The strong signal is approximately 5 stories above you. You know what to do/_

Ignoring the surrealistic surroundings around us, we decided to proceed further into the strange labyrinth. It wasn't long until we met out first Shadow encounter, 2 blue mask wearing tables. They spat fire at us, but I blocked the attack with Pyro Jack while Lazard destroyed them with Ramses. We met several more encounters like this, all wearing the same blue masks.

Another corridor, another left turn, a right turn, another right, left, right, right ,right, left, right.

"Stop, don't move."

The sudden order from James immediately stopped us. As we were just going to question him; he explained the problem to us.

"Something's off. We've been moving for around 20 minutes now; it usually takes us less than half that time to clear a floor in Astyria. Furthermore, we've don't seem to see anything other than more hallways."

It was true, I was feeling out of breath from all the constant running, and so was Lazard. It usually takes us a full 5 floors before we even felt slightly tired.

"Dr Valeria, scan the area for anomalies"

 _/Hold on…let me see…there seems to be nothing-wait…you're right, the hallways are constantly shifting, trying to move you away from the stairs/_

Huh? Not only are we fighting Shadows, but now the dungeon itself is working against us? This is going to be bad. I decided to ask her for help.

"What do we do? Is there any way to actually progress?"

 _/Let me check…hmm, it seems that there are paths where there shouldn't be any whenever you reach a junction. Next time you get to one, turn the opposite direction into a dead end and check for any false walls or hidden paths/_

With the new knowledge in hand, we continued our progress. After reaching the junction, we turned left into a dead end instead of right. When we approached the dead end, we immediately began searching for signs of a hidden passage.

With a slight hunch, I went to touch the solid looking wall, and felt my hand go right through it, as though it didn't exist.

"Got it"

The dead end walls were only illusion, and we were able to pass through them freely. Putting our entire bodies through, we discovered that these paths were guarded by Shadows, slightly more powerful than the ones we would randomly encounter. Still, they were no problem to deal with, and after a few minutes, we reached the stairs to the next floor.

The next few floors were much the same, though the Shadows there were stronger than any we've encounter in Astyria. There were all so weirder looking too: tables, magician boxes, wizards, even giant magician's wand, all wearing that same blue mask.

However, on the third floor, the gimmick of the floor had changed, as every junction we went to have both paths be dead ends, so we didn't know which ones were the actual ones to go to. We managed to find out that the right path had a blue mask ordained on the wall instead of a white one, and we continued to make progress until the 5th floor.

* * *

 _Magician's Maze 5_ _th_ _floor_

The fifth floor looked remarkably similar for once, though the aesthetics were still much the same. It looked like the room the led to the guardian Shadows, which mean whoever is causing this is just beyond the giant wooden door in front of us.

We all prepared ourselves for what's to happen, and entered the room. We didn't know what we'd be facing, but we were determined to not let it beat us…

 **And that's it, gonna leave it a bit at the cliffhanger. Next chapter will be the actual boss fight, until then fellow readers -ArcanaHermit**


	11. Chapter Eight: Magician Part II

**It's time for our first boss encounter. Today we'll reveal something important to the story, as well as have a hopefully slightly interesting fight. I hope you enjoy this chapter of Shadowed Ground. –ArcanaHermit**

 _Magician's Maze, Circe's Chamber_

As we entered the room, we instinctively took a quick look at our surroundings. The room continued the circus like theme of the others, but it was slightly different. The others seemed like the opening act, the parlor tricks shown before the truly amazing feats of magic were performed. While the other rooms had walls of cloth, these walls were made of black glass, reflecting our image back at us. On these walls were not only masks but other things you would see in a magician's magic kit: wands, saws, magic boxes, cards, rings, and other such items.

"Hmmm, who do we have here? Some guests for my show, or some intruders barging in?"

The voice was a woman's voice, silky smooth. However there was a second voice that accompanied it, darker and much more malicious sounding. We look at where the voice came from and saw that in front of us was a large gathering of darkness. The darkness swirled like a tornado until they took form of a human like figure, the most human looking Shadow I've seen, or perhaps she wasn't a Shadow at all.

She was absolutely beautiful, with a flawless pale face, seductive black eyes and cherry lips not hidden by any sort of mask. She had an hourglass figure hidden behind a robe of intricate orange silk with symbols weaved all over it. On one of her hand held a black staff with an amethyst crystal, the other held a vial of light blue liquid. Her long brown hair extended down to her knees. Yet for all her beauty, I can't help but sense a seething malice from her face, smirking arrogantly. Clearly she wasn't intending win via seduction.

 _/This is the signal causing all of this…but it isn't like any Shadow I've seen. Prepare yourselves; this is not going to be easy. I'll check for any weaknesses, but it'll take some time/_

"I am Circe: witch, nymph, and goddess. Prepare to be fodder for my spells."

Raising her staff up high, purple flames began to form around it and burst forth towards us at breakneck speed. We immediately dodged out of its way, but more flames were being shot at us, the woman who called herself Circe laughing maniacally all the while. It took all of our effort not to be hit.

Finally, I saw an opening to attack, smashing my Persona Card as fast as I could, I summoned Oberon, king of fairies. Pointing his sword at Circe, lightning shot out of the tip of the blade, rushing towards her.

"What a pathetic excuse for a spell. This won't take much effort."

Pointing her staff at the direction of the attack, the symbols on her robe begun to glow a purple light, and soon there a circle appeared between the lightning and her, purple and with the same symbols. It took the bolt of lightning and absorbed it, turning it purple and launching it back at me, faster. It struck Oberon and dissipated him, and I felt my body stagger at my Persona being destroyed.

 _/Damn it, it seems she reflects magical attacks. Refrain from using any Persona Spells, everyone/_

Shit, that hurt a lot, but I managed to get back on my feet. Knowing that she reflected magical attacks, me and the others tried using our Persona's physical abilities, but every time we did she either teleported herself out of the attack or blocked it with that same purple circle. Now turning back into the offensive, she began casting more spells from her staff. Lightning, fire, ice all shot towards us, and it was all I could do to not die, Circe mockingly laughing all the while like she was playing with puppets on a string.

Lazard wasn't faring much better, and while James was routinely dodging her attacks, even sneaking a few attacks in between the barrage of projectiles, Nemesis couldn't do anything to get through her defenses. I was soon at my mental limits until Dr Valeria contacted us again.

 _/ Alright, I might have found a way to beat her. She needs to stand still to cast her barrier, and it weakens when attacked from multiple directions. James, I think time to reveal "it"/_

Reveal what? I turned to look at him and saw that his face twisted into a confident smirk, a fire in his eyes that I've never seen before.

"Kurea, Lazard, distract her."

The instant those words were said, we immediately knew our places. It was weird, every time he would give out an order like this, we would listen. And every time we listened, we would win. It was just something that grew over time I suppose, a habit we made after so many battles we fought together.

Me and Lazard spilt up into two different directions and summoned our Personas. Oberon slashed at her the same time Ramses rushed with his chariot. This didn't faze Circe, who simply let out an amused chuckle.

"My, my, my, attacking simultaneously, I see? I was wondering when you were going to form such a simplistic strategy. Unfortunately, it won't work."

Pointing her staff up towards the sky, she was suddenly covered in a purple sphere, runes circling around her. The attacks stopped when they clashed against the barrier, purple sparks flying as the Personas tried to press through. Circe began laughing again

"Nice try, but unfortunately not enough to get through my magic. Since you been so amusing, I might even give you the option to surrender if yo-"

Her mocking offer was cut short by a figure slamming into her, effortlessly shattering the barrier. A look of surprise was all she got before the figure struck into her, sending her flying across the room and slamming headfirst into the wall.

The figure was a Persona, but it wasn't any I've ever seen. He was extremely big, wearing armor of bronze and leather, his face was a scowl, rage apparent in his blue eyes. He wielded a spear and a shield that I could only imagine was impossible for a single person alone to hold properly. Circe recovered herself enough to look at the Persona in both shock and disgust.

"You…"

Glancing over, I saw that James's smirk widened even further, and there was a reddish tint to his eyes. I couldn't believe my eyes. He summoned another Persona, making him a Wild Card user. I suddenly remember that conversation in the Velvet Room. Was he the antithesis that Igor was talking about?

"Kurea, bring out Eligor"

That command snapped me back into reality. Circe wasn't fully recovered yet, apparently struggling to physically stand her body up. Immediately clearing my mind of any thoughts, I summoned my Chariot Persona, a mounted knight called Eligor.

"Eligor, Cruel Attack!"

"Ares, crush her"

Without a moment's hesitation, both Personas took their spear and threw it Circe. The attack was so fast that she didn't even have time to block or even teleport away, both attacks instantly pierced trough her chest, and Circe began spitting out black ooze from her mouth. After a while, she simply stopped struggling. She was oddly...serene for someone with two spears stuck in her.

"How careless of me, to be so caught off guard. Still, I didn't expect one of you to have the power to wield Ares. I admit my defeat."

Her legs began fading away, reaching up to her. She took a look at us one last time. I could almost see something resembling admiration in her eyes.

"Listen well; I shall not be the only one. There are still more to come, each more powerful than the last. And know that should you fail, the whole world will plunge into anger and madness."

After those words, her entire body faded into black mist, and a flash of white enveloped us. When the flashed was over, we found ourselves looking at the mall as it once was: normal, empty, and without Shadows.

I instantly knelt down. My mind finally kept up to how my body was feeling. I looked around and saw that Lazard was also on the floor, exhausted. James walked up to the both of us and helped us up, as we slowly walk out of the mall, I began to ask the obvious question.

"So…you have the Wild Card?"

James simply gave me a confident look.

"So I do. Don't ask how I got it or why, I don't know either. Let's just say that I know of the Velvet Room, and that I have the Wild Card. I don't have as many Personas as you, but I make up for it in power. Any other questions?"

I shook my head, and we hurried outside the mall where Dr Valeria hurried towards us, and we silently walked back towards the dorm. The look on each of our faces already confirms that we'll save the discussion for tomorrow.

Still, what Circe said bothered me. She made it clear that there would be more invasions, but the details like "when", "where" and "why" still eluded us. Our explorations into Astryia didn't reveal much either. Still, I suppose those answers will be answered one way or another, one day at a time.

 **And that's the end. Sorry for the delay, college is making it hard to write sometimes. Regardless I'll try my best to write as best as I can. Until next time -ArcanaHermit**


	12. Chapter Nine: A Hidden Variable

**I'm back, baby. It's time for another chapter of Shadowed Ground. I've recently looked into a long and detailed review of my work, and I just want to take a shout out to that guy. I'll take your criticisms to heart and try to improve. Anyways, let us begin. –ArcanaHermit**

 _School Classroom, Afternoon_

I let out a very quiet yawn, making sure that neither the teacher nor the fellow classmates hear me. I was still so groggy after yesterday's operation; I could barely stay awake in class. I wonder if James and Lazard are feeling the same way.

As I was fighting to keep conscious, suddenly a voice echoed in my head, a voice that was silky smooth. It was a voice I was quite familiar with, though I've not heard it like this before.

 _Kurea, this is Victoria, I would like for you to visit the Velvet Room on this day. There are things that I would like to discuss._

Being used to hearing voices in my head, either the booming voice whenever I made a Social Link or the telepathic voice of Dr Valeria, I really didn't feel any sort of surprise. Still, it was odd that she would communicate with me like this. It must be about something important.

 _Go to the alleyway at the right of the building you call a school. We shall talk more once you entered._

Even though I didn't really feel any different, I knew she was gone. Guess I'll just have to go to the Velvet Room to see what she wanted. As I was lost in my train of thoughts, another voice brought me back to reality.

"Kurea, could you please tell me what the answer to this question?"

Looking at the front of the classroom, I saw Ms Jill's slightly irritated face staring at me, as well as my classmates's eyes looking straight at me, some expressionless, some amused. I was so focused on Victoria's message as well as being tired from yesterday; I didn't even know what the question was.

Oh crap.

* * *

 _School Alleyway, After School_

After class was over, I immediately went to the alleyway as instructed, still sore about that whole episode in the classroom. Thankfully, all I got was a mild scolding from the teacher and a few teasing remarks from Elise, but I would still rather not go through that embarrassing ordeal again.

As I approached the end of the alleyway, I noticed a light blue circle form on the wall, it expanded until it took over the entire wall. It was another door to the Velvet Room, one that's actually in the real world. I opened the door and was greeted by that ever familiar flash of white.

* * *

 _Velvet Room_

"Welcome to the Velvet Room"

Once I can see again, I was sitting in the Velvet Room, as expected. However, two things seemed different than the other times I was here.

The first was that Igor was not here, leaving his seat empty. It was Victoria that greeted me, holding her usual leather-bound tome, which I learned from my visits, was a record of all the Personas I have used, called the Compendium. That thing, as well as Fusions, have been so frequently used by me that they almost became second nature, though I'll never take them for granted.

The second was that a figure stood beside me, crossing his arms. It was James, eyes and face as stoic as ever. This was the first time I've seen him here, despite him having supposedly having the Wild Card longer than I have. Regardless, Victoria's voice immediately turned my head towards her.

"Well well, it seems you two have acquainted yourselves with each others. They say those who possess the Wild Cards and naturally drawn to each other."

We both kept silent at that statement, leading to a soft chuckle from her.

"Perhaps you haven't been acquainted as much as I thought."

James frowned, letting his annoyance be shown clear on his face. Even still, the tone he took with her was a rather light one.

"So why did you call for us here?"

Victoria seemed to ponder his question for a moment, as if she was judging him. Finally, she spoke.

"There has been a change within Astryia. A barrier that was once there has been removed, and a new door has been opened."

A barrier has been removed, huh? Does that mean we could explore further into that place? Before I could come up with a response, James spoke up, turning to Victoria.

"Hmm, it's probably because of yesterday's operation, which means we'll have to deal with more of those real world Shadows nests if we need to proceed further. I suppose that is all?"

Victoria actually frowned for the first time I ever saw her. It wasn't a frown of malice, merely annoyance. I'm starting to get the feeling that these two don't get along. Still, she returned to her usual elegant demeanor quickly.

"Still as blunt as ever, I see. Yes, that is all I wish to tell you."

I looked back and James and noticed that he started to become translucent, his eyes closing. He became more and more faded until there was nothing left of him, like he wasn't there at all. So that's how someone sees another person leaving the room. Turning back to Victoria, I could see that she was giving me a rather teasing smile.

"Well, now that we're alone, I would like to request something of you."

I was well aware of Victoria's request. Sometimes when I was in the room, she would often ask me to retrieve an item for her. Sometimes the items we could fine in Astryia, and some I found by complete accident in real life. While I question why she would need something like a Portable Water Heater or a Shadow Husk, the rewards she gave me were usually worth the trouble, so I didn't mind much.

"Sure, I'll try to find whatever you want. No guarantees though."

"It's not an item I want. It's…company."

This took be by surprise? What does she mean by company?

"Allow me to explain. For awhile now, I have been curious of the workings of humanity. It has been so long since I've step foot outside the Velvet Room, I wanted to see how far humanity has grown. So, I would like you to show me some locations in your town. You will be rewarded for your services, as usual."

Perhaps she thought I would consider for a moment, because she looked as surprised as I ever saw her when I gave my immediate response.

"Sure."

Her demeanor returned once again, and she gave me a soft chuckle.

"You really are a special one, aren't you? I suppose that what made the Wild Card chose you. I believe this will be the start of a good...partnership"

A voice boomed in my head, and I knew from experience what was happening.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Priestess Arcana_

And with that, the booming voice left. Victoria looked like she didn't notice it at all, simply keeping her usual smile. A white haze filled my vision as my time in the Velvet Room ended.

* * *

 _Silverpoint Dormitories, Observation Room_

I was sitting next to Lazard, who didn't even bother to hide the fact that he was tired, on a couch, James sitting across me as usual. All of us were waiting for Dr Valeria to show up and officially begin the meeting. After a few minutes, she finally entered and began explaining the details.

"I know you're all still tired from yesterday's mission, so I'll keep this as short as possible. After James and I did a preliminary scouting mission, we found that the barrier keeping us from going further into Astryia is no longer there."

This, of course, was probably because of James relaying information he got from Victoria to her. Though she seems unaware of Velvet Room, she also seemed to trust James highly. Lazard gave them a slightly baffled look, while I try to hide the fact that I knew already. After a while, Lazard finally voice what was on everyone's mind.

"So the barrier had been lifted the day after we had that crazy Shadow operation. That can't be a coincidence."

"Indeed, we will no doubt find another barrier, which means that there will be more invasions to come, and more of those powerful beings."

The tone suddenly got a turn for the gloomy. We could barely handle ourselves yesterday, only saved because of James revealing his Wild Card. If we were to face something like that now, we would probably lose.

James looked at us and chuckled darkly. All of us, except for Dr Valeria, looked at him in equal parts shock and annoyance. How could he laugh at a time like this?

"You guys have no sense of time, do you? Do you honestly think we'll be facing another invasion so soon? I think the next time is quite far away, plenty of time to train and get stronger."

Dr Valeria, though she looked mortified at his extremely snarky remark, nevertheless backed him up.

"He's right. It'll most likely be a while until we'll face such a tough operation. For now, all we can do is train and prepare ourselves for the nights to come."

The mood lightened, if only a little bit. Lazard still looked annoyed at James, who returned with an icy cold stare, his face finally returning to its usual stoic look. I decided its best not to try and break up their staring contest; it'll only get worse if I did. Once all was said and done with we went to our separate ways. I headed back to my room and immediately dived onto the bed, sleep claiming me straight after.

* * *

 _Liverty City "D" District, Alleyway_

"Rene told me she sensed something yesterday."

I was in the middle of my usual business in this shady part of town. Just as I was about to close the deal on some poor sap who couldn't stand the pain of withdrawal, a familiar voice turned my attention to him.

As usual, he had the worst timing.

"And?"

"And she sensed something really powerful, a mass of Shadows unlike anything she's ever seen, and a powerful force at the core of it all. However, after a while it simply…vanished."

I was getting annoyed. He may be the one who got me out of that hellhole 2 years ago, but I wasn't going to beat around the bush.

"Stop being so cryptic asshole. What does it mean?"

"It means, my dear Loewe…that the Shadows are finally making their move. And with that move, it'll draw the response of Society. I believe in that response awaits our opportunity."

That name made me unintentionally scowl. Whatever annoyance I had with Zak, I immediately cast it aside for my hatred towards "them".

"So…what do we do?"

"We follow, and we observe. We'll need more information before we make any sudden moves. Until then, you may continue about your business. You know how to find us."

And with that, he turned around and walked away. I immediately turned around and saw that my client was clenching his stomach, probably because his withdrawal was kicking in. I sighed, hiding my anger and finishing the deal.

Once it was done, I looked down at my necklace and opened its compartment, showing a picture of Mom. It only stood to remind me of that day, and what the Society took from me.

 _Don't worry Mom, I'll make those bastards pay._

 **Done and done. I know a lot hasn't been revealed this chapter, but I just wanted to show the aftermath of an operation. Hopefully I made the ending steer it in a different direction at least. Next time we get MORE SOCIAL LINK SCRAMBLES. WOOPEEE! Until next time, my dear viewers -ArcanaHermit**


	13. Social Link Scramble III

**It's time for the third installment of Social Link Scramble. This should be fun, at least for me. I hope I make it entertaining enough for all of my readers –ArcanaHermit.**

 _Supaishi Ramen Shop_

Me and Elise were just talking a bit until our noodles came, at which point we greedily and shamelessly consumed the bowl the same way a starved man would. I am so glad I only come here when I'm hanging out with her; otherwise I might get fat by constantly eating these noodles.

To be perfectly honest, I'm sort of jealous of her. She apparently comes here so frequently yet she retains her thin waist, whereas if I don't be careful I could easily put on some weight. I suppose some people just take in more of what they eat than others.

"So…how were your test scores?"

I asked the question out of curiosity. We just had a mock test yesterday to prepare us for the real thing a couple of weeks down the line. I scored mostly Bs, with some As and only one C, in the dreaded subject known as math. Elise didn't seem to have the same amount of success, judging by the embarrassing expression on her face.

"Uh…let's not go into it, it was only mock exams anyways."

She continued slurping on her noodles and pretended like I didn't ask. I decided not to pry further; I can tell it'll end badly if I do. We continued eating until both our bowls are empty, after which we continued making small talk.

"So, got your eyes on a boy yet?"

Again our conversation trails back to my love life. It feels like I'm being questioned by one of those TV stereotypical moms that keep bugging the daughter to find a good husband.

"Elise, I'm just starting to get comfortable in this school, I'm not exactly looking for someone to date."

"Aww, but I saw a few boys looking your way. They'll be so disappointed."

A few boys interested in me? That's the first I've ever heard of it. Elise aside, I'm not particularly close to any of my classmates, so I wouldn't know this sort of stuff.

"Well they'll have to stay disappointed then. Besides, you sure they weren't looking your way? I may not know a lot of the students, but I at least know that you catch the stares of a lot of boys whenever you pass them by."

Elise blushed and looked back at her empty bowl. At last, sweet revenge against all of her teasing was mine. Despite her outgoing personality, she could be very shy when I push the right buttons. We decided to stop with all the teasing and talk about more comfortable matters. After a while, her phone started to ring. Elise gave a rare look of annoyance and picked it up.

"Hello? Yeah, yeah, I'll head there now."

She turned back to me and gave me a look of apology.

"Sorry, it's my mom. I forgot I had tuition. So I'll be seeing you later?"

"Yeah, thanks for the noodles."

"Hey…thanks for being here for me. It's been pretty stressful back home, so I'm glad you're here to calm my nerves."

This was an odd bit of seriousness coming from Elise. Things must be different at home for her than it is with me. Regardless, I'm glad that she counts on me to help her relax. I feel we've become a bit closer.

Just as I finished that thought, the ever familiar voice booms into my head.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Magician Arcana_

The voice was gone. Elise waved at me as she left the shop. I decided to leave as well. Though the day is still early, I decided to head back to the dorm to catch up on some rest.

* * *

 _Liverty City, "C" District_

I was still walking off the calories that I've gained from those noodles, until I heard a moaning noise coming from my right.

"Change…got any change?"

I looked to my right and saw what looked to be a beggar. He looked like he was in his early twenties, with disheveled blonde hair and a body that looked like it hasn't eaten in days. When he looked at me, I could see his eyes were full of misery, so much so that I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"Change…please...?"

I rustled around for some money and gave him five dollars. It wasn't much, but it was really all I had on me. He seemed grateful nonetheless and endlessly thanked me.

"You're a kind soul. You find so few of them these days…"

"T-thanks, I guess. You come here often?"

He slowly nodded his head, and that look of misery was in his eyes again.

"Listen, I come back here from school a lot of the time. I'll give you some food to eat when we meet again, alright?"

"You would do that for a wretched old soul like me?"

I nodded, and he looked at me in both shock and gratitude. He actually smiled at me in a rather nice way. I talked to him a little bit until before walking back to the dorm.

* * *

 _Student Council Room, After School_

"Alright just hand me a few more of those files over there and we'll be done."

I handed Lazard the files he mentioned, and he took them to meticulously sort them out. It was during lunchtime that Lazard came and all but begged me for help. The Student Council was heavily understaffed today due to several students catching a fever, and there were many things that needed to be done, one of them being sorting out the old archived files of the school, and so here we are.

After an hour of frantically carrying and sorting out files, the work started to wind down as the last files were being sorted. Once those were done, we sat at the bench outside of the room, Lazard looking tired but happy.

"Thanks, I owe you for this. If I happen to catch you on a minor offense I might…pretend I was blinded by the sun or something."

I giggled at that comment.

"Heh, that's an odd comment coming from you. So you would ignore the rules to return a favor, how scandalous."

Despite that, he sighed. His face suddenly turned serious.

"Well, I suppose I need to pay you back somehow. It seems I'm always relying on you these days in Astryia. You and James can summon multiple personas, so I'm pretty much the weak link, huh?

Despite him trying to laugh it off, I could feel a bit of sadness in his voice. It's true that he was the only one out of the three of us that doesn't have the Wild Card, but he was an important part of our team nonetheless.

"Hey, don't put yourself down. You've destroyed lots of Shadows and saved my life a few times, so you definitely have been pulling your weight."

"Heh, thanks. I always needed this sort of boost from time to time, whether it's from my council members or from my mom. Especially since dad…oh right, you don't know."

I can guess from that sentence alone that his dad was…no longer with him. Still, I decided to be polite and let him talk.

"My dad died last year. He was a cop on duty, and one day he saw a fight break out. He tried to break it up, but he didn't realize that one of them had a gun and…well you can connect the dots."

"Lazard, I'm so sorry…"

Instead of getting even gloomier, he gave me a bright smile. It wasn't even fake or anything; it was an honest genuine smile.

"Don't be. You had no part in that messy affair, and I know my dad wouldn't want me to dwell on that subject. You just got to keep pushing on."

I could feel his passion, as well as peer into his character a bit. His optimism, his easy-going nature, his desire to help people, he must have gotten it from his father. I feel the bond between us grow. And, as expected, the voice came.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Chariot Arcana_

And with that the voice was gone. Once we were done resting, we decided to walk to the dorm. As we walking down the near empty hallways, Lazard bumped into a fellow student.

"Oh, sorry I…"

"Sorry, I…"

They were just about to apologize to each other until they looked at each other, in which case they stopped mid-sentence. A silence broke out, and I could feel tension rising in the air. After a while, the other student just walked away without uttering another word. Lazard looked on at him with pity in his eyes.

"Who was he?"

Lazard just seemed to realize that I was still here and turned towards me.

"His name is Nate Tanner; I…would rather avoid this topic, if possible."

I nodded, respecting his privacy. As we walked towards the dorm, our silence soon faded away, and we began talking like our usual selves. Still, the student that Lazard bumped into kept popping up in my mind. Who was he, and what was his deal with Lazard? I decided to put those thoughts out of my mind as I walked back into the dorm. There was an mission tonight, and I must pour all my focus into that.

 **And that's Social Link Scramble. All in all, I'm happy with this one, as it's going to set up things to come. Anyways, until next time, fellow fanfiction users -ArcanaHermit**


	14. Chapter Ten: Ecathe

**It's time for more Persona Shadowed Ground. I was debating whether to make this a hybrid chapter with Social Link Scramble, but I decided that there was enough meat to this to make it its own chapter. Hope you enjoy –ArcanaHermit**

 _2_ _nd_ _Block Ecathe_

Well this is definitely different.

This was our first time entering beyond that sealed door, barring James who went ahead on a scouting mission. The moment we entered the floor, we immediately noticed that the entire aesthetic of the floor is completely different from what we've seen.

The walls were of pale blue stone, with red vines covering all around them like a house that hasn't been touched in a long time; on the corners were square pillars with runic inscriptions craved on them. The whole feeling of this was…oddly a feeling of knowledge, though it was still as creepy as the last block.

 _/The Shadows in this area are stronger. I'll provide as much info as I can, but it'll take some time. Proceed with caution./_

We all gave a quick "Roger" before exploring the floor. So far there were no Shadows, only a couple of items that we decided to keep with us. The odd thing about Astryia is that we often find things that had some value, whether it'd be in combat (a small gemstone that emits lightning or weakens Shadows when thrown. Why something that weakens Shadows would be in their home is beyond me), to something of value (the aforementioned orbs, as well as other stuff, fetch a pretty penny if we brought them back, even if they don't have the same properties they had when they were in Astryia), to seemingly useless stuff that I collect for the sake of a request from Victoria. It really was weird that there were so many things just lying around here, but I've done this long enough to stop questioning anything involving this place.

Soon though, we finally found our first batch of Shadows, a variation of the table we saw back in the Circe Operation, though colored white and with knives hovering above it. Before it were two fish like Shadows that we've never seen before. We managed to take up our battle positions as they noticed our presence, and the battle commenced.

The fished started charging at Lazard from two different directions, hoping to try and pincer him. Lazard, used to this tactic too many times for it not to be a routine, immediately responded my manifesting his Persona Card.

"Ramses, Rakukaja"

Shattering his card, Ramses appeared and raised his whip high into the sky. A purple aura started to wrap around both Lazard and his Persona. The fish Shadows charged slammed into Ramses's chariot, but it didn't even budge, an effect of the spell he just cast.

Seizing the opportunity, James quickly slashed the both of them with his sword, cutting them to pieces. It was then that the table Shadow started throwing knives at him. James gave a look of slight annoyance before manifesting his card.

"What an annoyance. Crush him, Ares."

Ares came forth the instant he smashed his card, and used his shield to block the knives. With James pointing at the Shadow, Ares charged towards it and slammed its spear down, pinning it to the floor. The Shadow jerked a couple of times before finally collapsing into black sludge. The battle was over.

 _/Good job/_

We took a minute to compose ourselves before exploring more of the dungeon, eventually finding the staircase leading upwards. Judging by that last battle, we are definitely getting stronger, that's for certain, but are we strong enough? I often think about that as we head deeper and deeper into this place.

* * *

 _5_ _th_ _Floor_

It seemed that not only were the Shadows stronger, but the floors themselves were getting longer too. Still, we managed to press on and reached the boss room. While we weren't exactly tired, we still decided to call it a day. There's no escape when we're fighting those guardians, so it's best to always fight them at full strength.

We founded the gateway and teleported back to the first floor, Valeria complimenting us for our improvements in fighting ability. I have to admit I was proud myself, looking back I could still remember being so nervous at every Shadow encounter, now I face each and everyone with a certain sort of confidence. Hopefully it doesn't become arrogance. Pride before the fall, or so it goes.

Looking at Lazard, I could see that he was getting used to this as well. The nervousness he tried to hide behind his cheerful demeanor was gone. As for James…well he looked the same as he ever been. It was really surprising how nothing can faze him, as though he's prepared for anything. That or he simply doesn't care.

After some final reports we headed back through the mirror into our world. Immediately I went to bed, wanting nothing more than a good night's rest.

* * *

"So…how goes the analysis, Valeria?"

"Even if the results were expected, they were still not as I wish it'd be. All of the students I checked don't have the potential. There are still a few more that I have yet scanned, so I'm still holding out hope."

I can't help but think that the effort is worthless. People with that power were exceedingly rare, and even with the Society's advances, they can't completely determine when someone has a Persona without thoroughly testing it like they did with me, which was out of the question now that Dean is in charge.

"Regardless, even if we did find another one, there's no guarantee that the user would join our cause."

Another reason why I doubted this move would be useful. It was by a stroke of luck that Lazard and Kurea joined us, with both of them having firsthand experience to Shadows. With someone who is unfamiliar with the threat, any explanation or offer we'd make would sound like mad ramblings.

"Anyways, I believe I'll rest for the night. What about you, James?"

I shook my head, not even bothering to verbally answer. She was always trying to get me to sleep, even when I have grown beyond such…human needs. She simply sighed as I had expected her to.

"Sometimes I wish you'd just listen to what I say. I can barely recall the last time you've slept."

"If I need rest, I will do it. As of now I don't, so if there's nothing else, I shall take my leave. A weapon always needs to be maintained after all."

And with that, I left the observation room and ran out into the night, jumping over things and increasing my running pace. There were still a few hours till dawn, just enough for me to train my mobility. While I am satisfied with my current speed, it wouldn't be wise to stay complacent, and there is always room to improve.

 _Never forget your purpose. Your sole reason is to fight  
_

* * *

 _School Supplies Closet, After School_

"Damn it, there's no papers here."

I decided to search the closet one more time in order to find some papers, since I was being asked by a teacher on the way back to school for some paper for printing. Since I didn't have much of a schedule today, I decided to help her, but I couldn't find any papers here anywhere.

Just as I was about to give up, I heard the door open behind me. When I turned around I saw a familiar face. It was Nate Tanner, the person me and Lazard bumped into a few days ago.

Taking a closer look at him, he looked very…plain, like someone who could easily blend into a crowd and go unnoticed. He had plain brown hair, was of average height and build. The only thing noticeable about him was his eyes. They look tired, with bags under them. It's clear that he was hiding something; it was just a matter of what.

"Oh…you're the new student. What are you looking for?"

The tone of his voice was very melancholy, and he wasn't even looking me in the eyes. Regardless, I should tell him, maybe he'll know what I'm looking for.

"Um, I'm looking for some papers, but I can't find any. A teacher of mine needed some to print. What about you?"

"I needed some supplies for a project I'm working on. Oh…there's another closet on the first floor, you'll probably find some there."

Despite the tone in which he spoke, I felt grateful for him nonetheless. He wasn't really rude, just…not all there, like he's always spacing out.

"Thanks. Hey, are you alright? You don't seem well. I know this is a bit out of the blue, but maybe we can hang out sometime, if you want."

The look he gave me was one of shock, and it took him a few seconds before he returned to his normal expression.

"N-no thanks, you wouldn't want to hang with someone like me. I would bring you nothing but trouble."

He looked almost sad, like he wanted to accept my offer. Still, I better not pry into what's going on with him, or it'll just make things worse.

"Alright then, if you happen to need someone to talk to, just come looking for me."

"I'll take your offer into consideration…Kurea, was it?"

"Yeah"

"Nate Tanner."

We gave each other a quick glance before I ran out to the first floor, looking for the supplies closet. I get the feeling Nate might be another Social Link, though I have yet to hear the booming voice in my head.

Social Links, Astryia, Personas, it really is weird how quickly I got used to bizarre concepts like these, and how I keep using those terms so often in my thoughts, but I suppose that's part of being a Wild Card. I couldn't help but think that my hardest days are just ahead of me.

 **And I'm done with this chapter. I know not a lot of things happened here. So you can consider this an interlude chapter. The next chapter is going to be a Social Link Scramble (which I will shorten to SLS). Till then folks -ArcanaHermit**


	15. Social Link Scramble IV

**It's time for another round of Social Link Scramble. Cue applause, people. Anyways, sorry for taking so long, I'm sort of going through a rough bit of Apathy Syndrome, so I haven't been writing in a bit. Regardless, I hope you enjoy reading this, even if I get a bit rusty.**

 _Liverty City, Farmer's Market_

We were walking around the stalls, Jane and I. It was the weekend, and I promised to go shopping with her the other night. Though I though she meant clothes or sporting equipment, not vegetables and meat.

"So, you cook a lot?"

"Yeah, I got it from my dad. He taught me how to cook, and we would make a lot of stuff together. My mom tried that too, but…well let's just say my stomach groaned in agony that day."

I couldn't suppress the chuckle when she made that comment. So much for the women's stereotypes I suppose. We continued to make idle chatter as she walked around the market, checking the quality of the ingredients before haggling passionately with the dealers, who seem to be familiar with her at this point.

After all of it was said and done, her hands and mine were full of plastic bags. We decided to sit down on a bench somewhere before going back home. Once she put them down, she let out a tired sigh.

"Tired?"

"A bit, I'm having a big feast with Jon's family tonight, and he usually helps me carry these things, but he's doing something today so you're my slave for the day."

He gave out a half-baked laugh, trying to sound as much of a dictator as possible. Afterwards, she went to a nearby vending machine, and soon returned with two canned coffee in her hands, handing one to me.

"Thanks, Jane."

"No problem; never let it be said that I, Jane Dustins, never treats her slaves to free drinks of coffee."

"Thanks, Jane. So…do you like Jon?"

There really was no good way to bring up this question, so I decided to just say it outright. They always seem like a couple, and I couldn't keep my curiosity buried any longer. It seemed to surprise Jane, who looked as startled as I ever saw her, eyes wide open.

"Um, um…well…uh…well…I…"

Well then, that's about the answer I expected given the look on her face a few seconds ago. Still, she seemed more nervous than she should about it.

"I don't know really. Do I want to go further than just friends with him? The idea feels nice, but I'm not sure if I should do it or not."

So the answer boiled down to an "I don't know". I suppose that's alright. I did bring it out of the blue like that, so Elise must be rubbing off on me.

"It's alright if you don't know, you should just take your time with these things."

"How do you know? Have you been in this situation?"

"No, but my mom has. She always tells me when I ask her about it."

"Heh, your mom must have had a lot of experience then."

Memories of my mom soon flared into my mind. She was apparently quite the man-killer when she was my age, getting date offers left and right. The reason she married dad was because he was a simple and calm man, and that stood him out from the crowd of wannabe bad boys.

"Yeah, I suppose."

Jane stood up, stretching herself before picking up all the plastic bags. She gave me a bright smile.

"Thanks for coming with me today. Shopping for things is no fun alone, so I appreciate the company."

"Yeah, it's no problem. Be sure to invite again."

My head rang for the first time in a while, and I knew what that meant.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Strength Arcana_

And with that, the voice was gone. We decided to walk together until we had to spilt, and then we bid each other goodbye.

* * *

 _Liverty City, "C" District_

I came here, some bread from the bakery in my hands. I was waiting for that old beggar, who I promised to visit again.

"You…were that girl from before."

On that familiar alleyway was him, looking just as disheveled and empty as ever. I handed him the bread that I bought, which he took and ate it like what he probably is, a man who hadn't eaten anything decent in a while.

"Thank you. To think that someone would take care of a wretched soul like me…"

"Why do you think you're wretched? You don't seem to cause trouble for anyone."

He looked down, his eyes clearly recalling a distant memory. No doubt his past wasn't pretty, judging by his current living condition. After a while, he responded.

"Just…did something that ended me up here. Maybe I'll share it with you one day, maybe I won't. Will you come again?"

Even if he wasn't a Social Link, I'd probably still say yes. I was oddly intrigued as to who he was, as he definitely seemed like someone who had a wild story.

"Yeah, I'll bring some food as well."

"Thank you. I feel as though I should introduce myself, even if I'm nobody now. My name is Ardyn. Jack Ardyn."

As soon as he finished introducing himself, the familiar voice boomed in my head.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Tower Arcana_

The voice was gone, and I decided to chat with the beggar called Jack before I go back to the dorms.

* * *

 _Liverty Mall, Mack's CDs_

"So this is the medium by which the modern generation listens to music."

Victoria looked at the disc as though it was the first time she has seen it. Though being a resident of the Velvet Room, and she apparently never left for a long time, I suppose it really is the first time she's seen a CD.

I had nothing to do today, so I finally decided to take Victoria out into the city. Her choice of clothing, the elaborate velvet and yellow skirt she usually wears, along with her pale skin and yellow eyes quickly drew the attention of a lot of people. Thankfully, apart from some stares, they didn't ask anything. I'd be mortified trying to explain how and where Victoria came from, and her very…descriptive way of speaking definitely wouldn't help.

For someone so with such a mature and elegant demeanor, she looked like a child at the candy store the first time she laid eyes on the mall. She quickly jumped from store to store, apparently having enough money to buy every single foodstuff she came across, and comparing her stomach to mine was like comparing a castle to a small apartment.

Still, I really can't say I'm not having fun, even if the whole thing seems ridiculous. In fact, I think it's because Victoria is so ridiculous that I'm having so much fun. She makes something mundane like going to a Sushi Bar seem funny. Mostly by trying to, quite literally, buy out the restaurant. As soon as I finish my train of thought, Victoria was already listening to the CD, bobbing her head back and forth.

"Ah, so this is modern music, a subject of much controversy. Its quality highly debated among many people."

"So how is it?"

"Hmm, I have no idea. As a resident of the Velvet Room, we were only made to help our guests along, so we really don't form opinions of our own. Still, if I were forced to answer, I'd say I like it."

Once her curiosity was satisfied, we exited the store and headed straight back into the alleyway, Victoria humming the song she listened to all the way.

"Well, I suppose I shall bid you farewell. I shall give you your reward next we meet."

I suppose that means I won't be going in. I'll wait until my next trip to Astryia I suppose.

"This has been a wonderful experience. I hope to do this once more."

Despite the almost child-like attitude she had previously, she had gone back to her serious and mature personality. It's for the best, honestly. I'm more used to her that way. As she left for the Velvet Room, the booming in my head came as predicted.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Priestess Arcana._

Once it was gone, I headed back to the dorm. That trip was exciting, but also very tiring. The bedroom is all I'm heading for tonight.

 **And that's it for the Social Link Scramble. Like I said, I'm going through a rough patch, so uploads won't be as frequent. Regardless, I thank you for sticking with me. For the next chapter, we get an insight into our mysterious little variable. -ArcanaHermit**


	16. Chapter Eleven: Loewe Bridget

**Alright guys, time for another main chapter. Sorry about taking so long, I'm still trying to get my life in order. Thankfully writing this helps alleviate the stress somewhat. Now, let us begin –ArcanaHermit**

 _I was in my room, looking at my face in the mirror. I looked so happy, like nothing could ever go wrong with the world. I started feeling hungry, so I went downstairs and entered the kitchen, and there she was, wearing a red apron, the long black hair that I inherited reaching down to her back. She held me in her arms and hugged me tightly. It feels so…warm. I closed my eyes, but when I opened it again, she was covered in flames, tears in her eyes. Her last words were…_

 _Were…_

" _I love you, Loewe."_

I opened my eyes and sat up on the bed. There was sweat on my brow, and my heart was beating frantically. Another nightmare about my mother, it has been a while. Looking outwards through the window, I saw that it was daylight. I remember that I didn't sleep early yesterday, probably the cause of my nightmare.

"I'm sorry, mom."

These were the words I always said whenever I woke from those nightmares. I knew I couldn't do anything to save her. I was just a boy, what could I do? But even when I try to justify it, no amount of justification would change the fact that the one person I cared about was dead. Karen Bridget, who died at the young age of 29, by what most people would claim, was an accidental fire.

It wasn't an accident. It was caused by the Society. And I took it upon myself to avenge her, by whatever means necessary.

"I know it's not what you want of me, mom. But please understand, I need to settle this, once and for all."

Not that she would hear me anyways. I wasn't the sort to think of life after death. But if there was, are you watching me now, mom?

Pushing my thoughts aside, I got myself dressed: my usual black trench coat, (still a bit too big for me, but one of the only two things that reminded me of her), a pair of jeans, and my necklace with her picture. Once I was done, I exited my room and headed downstairs. As expected, my landlady was there. She was a weird old lady, nearly seven decades old, but kind enough to rent out a room for me.

I just hope she doesn't one day decide to question where her rent money comes from. Or that "Adam Madia" isn't my real name.

"Good morning, Miss."

"Morning, Adam. Do you have business today?"

"Not really, no. I just needed some fresh air. Didn't sleep well last night, I'm afraid."

The lady looked at me, concern showing in her eyes. I quickly waved her off and gave her a smile, though I can't tell if it is genuine or fake.

"I'm alright. It was just a bad dream. I'll just take a walk through the city"

"Well, dear, if you ever need some help sleeping, I can fetch you some herbs from my garden. It might just help you."

I shook my head, but I was nevertheless touched. As far as landlords go, she could have easily been dismissive or even cruel, but she has been kind to me. Letting me be late on rent on more than one occasion, serving breakfast no matter how many times I insisted not to, and even nursing my sickness at one point. I thought I was beyond empathy after a certain point in my life, but it seemed that she proved me wrong. If nothing else, I needed to make sure that if anything happens to me, she doesn't get caught in the crossfire.

After saying some final greetings to her, I head out into the city, not particularly caring where I go. I have a lot of days like these. Days where I don't have a deal going on, or when I don't have to deal with Zak and his bullshit. Those days, I just wander around the place aimlessly, as I'm doing now. It gives me time to compose my thoughts.

After a bit of wandering, I saw a familiar place in the distance. It was a large school, several of my younger clients study there. It could have been where I would have gone to, once I hit that age my mother was planning to send me here.

Before the fire happened, that is.

I keep circling back to that one memory, probably the defining moment of my entire life. That fire that took away my home and the one person I knew who loved me. Because of that I grew bitter and angry, and I would have wasted away on a random street somewhere if it wasn't for one thing. One crucial piece of information that leads me to the path I walk now.

That fire wasn't an accident. It was caused by an organization called the Society, formally known as Paracelsus Protectorate. I don't know much about the group, but a few key words came to mind: "Shadows", "Persona" , "The Sophia Project", and finally "The Fire of 2001". On the surface they seemed like a normal conglomerate of businesses in the medical sector, but underneath it was a far more sinister organization, one willing to use people as test subjects and cause collateral for the sake of researching the paranormal. That school was partially funded by that group, as are a lot of things in this town.

After a while, I hear my breath become heavier and heavier, and I decided to rest at a nearby bench. Taking out my usual prescription, I took my daily dose of pills without water and waited for me to catch my breath. After a few minutes, I decide to hit the road again. I'm almost at where I want to be anyways.

Soon enough, I found myself at a stone memorial in the middle of a nearly deserted park, a bunch of names craved on to the plaque to display people who have died in the fire. At the very least they won't be forgotten, but that also means that the Society will never be forgiven. After tracing some of the names with my fingers, I stopped at the one I saw as "Karen Bridget".

"Hey Mom, it's been a while."

She wasn't actually buried here, of course. Most of the bodies burned to ash in the fire, so there was no body to bury. Still, it was a place I came whenever I need a reminder of why I'm still here, why I still haven't quit this town or just died in some slum.

"Had to take some pills today, my condition has been getting a lot better though."

My condition was a birth defect, not having the stamina of most people. When it was at its worst I couldn't climb up the stairs without feeling empty in the tank. Thankfully, exercise and medicine has mitigated it mostly, but I still have episodes where I suddenly need to rest.

"Not much has been going on. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut as far as revenge goes."

I sigh, more to myself than to her. I've been slowly biding my time, building up my finances with my deals, trying to squeeze out whatever information I can, practicing the use of my Persona, but none of that means anything if I don't do anything with what I had.

"Damn it, I wish I could just walk away from that asshole. He's dangling me around like a damn fool, but he's the only lead I have."

"You called?"

And just like that, there those two were suddenly there. They were a man and a little girl, their eyes looking on at me. The man was a leather jacket with a black shirt underneath, along with some jeans. He was lean, but still gave off the most ominous aura I ever felt. His face showed the slightest of smirks, and his raven hair was short and unkempt. But the most noticeable thing about him was his eyes, crimson and unnatural.

The girl on the other hand had pale skin was short and youthful, looking like she barely reached her teens. Unlike the man, she was very tidy. Almost too tidy; like nothing has ever touched her before. Her hair was a murky red, reaching all the way down until it was almost touching the floor. Her dress was a plain green, and her face looked…dead. Her eyes didn't seem to be focusing on anything at all, and I could notice an odd murkiness in her eyes.

Their names were Zak Sire and Rene Doe, and there were my…partners, so to speak. They were the people who unlocked the power inside me that they called Persona, and in return I helped them, as Zak put it, "wipe the Society off the records of existence". I thought more than once that this partnership was bullshit, but they were the ones who supplied me on the information about the Society, so I had no choice but to follow them. Still, just because I had to listen to them doesn't mean I'm gonna take their bullshit.

"What do you want?"

"Why the hostile air, Loewe? I come bearing good news."

"Yeah, and what news is that?"

"Rene here sensed a gathering of Shadows yesterday night. However, the odd thing was that they weren't aggressive; they stayed in a single position, never moving. Don't you find that odd?"

I couldn't hide my scowl any longer. Leave it to Zak to be nonsensical with his statements, I'd address Rene, but she usually doesn't even answer me.

"Cut to the point."

"My, my, my, aren't you prickly? I though after all this time, you'd see me as a valued friend against a common foe."

"We may be fighting the Society, but that's where our little partnership begins and ends. Got it?"

He didn't seem offended by my statement at all, instead he chuckles instead. Damn bastard has a few screws loose.

"Well then, I shall explain. The last time such an occurrence happened, it disappeared in a few days. Now then, I assume you know where I'm going with this?"

I recall our last conversation, and if what he said was true. It meant that the Society is going to have its hands full in a few days. Zak seemed to have caught on to my thoughts and smirked once more.

"Indeed, in a few days the source will be too big for the Society to ignore, and it'll give us the chance to identify our enemies."

He then handed me a small slip of paper before walking away. I didn't even bother to talk to him; any more words out of him would probably either be useless or irritating. I quickly looked at the paper. It was an address of a school, the same school that I passed by on my way here.

"Looks like all I had to do was open my big mouth, huh Mom?"

A sudden breeze passed through the park, feeling cool and nice. I wonder if that was just coincidence. Nevertheless, I headed home immediately. There were things I needed to prepare if I was to take them on, even if it that day isn't near.

"I love you Mom. If you're up above somewhere, please watch me."

 **And that's it. Finally I updated, before we head into another climax chapter we'll do one last Social Link Scramble. And then we fight. Until then, thank you all for patiently reading. -ArcanaHermit**


	17. Social link Scramble V

**IAlright, time for another one of these. I know I've been updating more slowly, and I apologize. I really do, but life and my growing emotional state has left this story hanging. Regardless, I'll try to muscle on through this –ArcanaHermit**

 _School Roof_

"Oh, you're here."

Those were the immediate words of James when I went to the roof to eat lunch, seeing as the cafeteria was packed to the point of bursting. I was half expecting to run into him when I came here, but I still felt a little shocked. I suppose it's because I never see him in school.

Or anywhere other than Astryia most of the time.

Sitting down at where I sat last time, I quietly ate my lunch as me and James continue our little routine of being as social to each other as a pair of rocks. It seems battle coordination really doesn't transfer into off-battle friendship, at least with him. Still, I decided to break the silence as usual.

"So…what do you want to do when you grow up?"

James was still staring out of the fence, and he stayed silent for a few seconds, though I could swear that there was newfound tension in the air. Did I accidentally hit a nerve with him?

"I will most likely work with the Valeria, probably leave this town. I never requested to join this school, but they said I needed to maintain a public image of sorts."

I note the caution in his voice, as though he's trying to figure out how I would respond to that. And to be honest, I'm trying to find out how as well. It was clear from his statement that he really doesn't want to go to school, and while juveniles might have the same desire, it's not something I expected from the normally level-headed James.

"I…see. Anyways, do you have any friends here?"

It was at this point that I realize that I'm grasping for straws, and I'm only on the second question. Master conversationalist I am not.

"No…most of the students pay me no mind. I never really had friends, even before this school."

He's never had friends? Is he really that aloof? I'm starting to wonder about all the possibilities that made him such a social recluse. Was he always like that? Did something happen? Was he born in a secluded island…I'm getting off track.

"What about me and Lazard? Aren't we your friends?"

He seemed to ponder that question for a moment, and I was honestly expecting him to give a flat out no. But after a while, he turned around and faced me. His face was stoic as ever and his eyes gave away nothing. Looking at him like that, I started to wonder what cause him to be so…cold. People usually don't act like that without a reason

"I…don't really know. We work well in our missions, and I can safely say that I trust your judgment, but we never really talk when we don't need to. It's the same with Lazard. Could we really call ourselves friends?"

Well, he got me on that one. He always likes to dismantle people's questions, particularly with Lazard during our tactical meetings. He seems to like proving people wrong.

"I suppose not. Still, just because we aren't friends now doesn't mean we can't try. How about it, wanna hang out after school or something?"

He quickly turned back to facing towards the fence.

"I…do not work well in social environments, I never had. I don't think it's wise for us to do so now, I'll only ruin the fun for you."

Wow, even for him that's oddly pessimistic. I suppose that goes to show how little I know about him, but I still won't give up on trying.

"Still, we cou-"

"But if you wish to converse, you may find me on the roof on certain days. Mondays and Wednesdays mostly, during lunch and after school, but my appearances are never truly fixed. If you wish to talk, come seek me then, though it comes with a warning: The more you know about me, the less you might want to."

I immediately sat there in silence. It wasn't exactly hanging out at the mall, or even going somewhere to eat, but it was a start. He was finally opening up, even if it was by the tiniest of cracks. I feel so oddly elated, the ominous warning aside.

"Alright, I'll come see you when I can. Maybe this will be the start of a friendship."

He stayed silent, either because he has no response or because he didn't want to. Regardless, I heard the bell toll, and James quietly walked downstairs, and was gone from view.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Hermit Arcana_

The ever familiar voice stopped. A new Social Link has been forged.

* * *

 _Silverpoint Dormitories, Observation Room_

"So, how are you adjusting to life here?"

I was tempted to ask Dr Strauss about my conversation with James. I have so many questions about him, and she seems to know at least some of the answers. But that would be an invasion of his privacy, so I just brush it off.

"I'm doing alright, thanks for asking."

Dr Strauss flashed me a kind smile before handing me a cup of hot cocoa across the table. I accepted it graciously, finding out first real meeting to be an inviting. I honestly didn't know what to make of her suddenly asking me to meet her out of the blue, but she assured me upon arrival that she is just checking up on my well being, which I appreciate.

"That's good to hear. I know that some people have trouble adjusting to new situations, more so with one as…unlikely as ours. I'm glad that you managed to adapt quickly."

She gave me a genuine smile, and the tone in her voice was full of warmth. I wasn't sure what to make of her initially, but I definitely didn't expect her to be so…motherly towards me, and so earnestly so.

"I know you must have a lot of questions, as Lazard did when he first experienced all this. If you have any questions, please feel free and ask, and I shall answer as best as I can."

And there was the opportunity to ask about James again, but again I put it aside. Best not try and piss him off when I'm trying to earn his friendship. I decided to ask something else on my mind instead.

"Well, how are you involved in this? I can't imagine you just knowing about this from the get go."

Dr Strauss carefully sipped her cocoa, no doubt contemplating how she should answer. I know that no matter how kind she treats me; even she has her secrets to keep. Still, I like to know more about the situation, and I think she isn't the type to begrudge that.

"Well, I was originally an ordinary therapist when I was recruited into the Society's…special division, that being the division dealing with Shadows. It was going through a very major reshuffling of staff, and I was recommended for my current position when they found out I wielded a Persona."

Hmm, that's something to file for later, at least. As take a sip of my hot cocoa once again, I ponder about my next question. Perhaps something not related to our mission?

"Um…where are you from?"

She chuckled at my answer, either because it was unexpected or because she senses the nervousness in my tone.

"Well, I was born in the South, but my parents moved up North, and there was where I was raised for most of my life before coming down here. I've travelled here and there, abroad as well as domestic, but something about the cool airs of the North always seems to soothe me."

As she was reminiscing, a clock had just rung and Dr Strauss looked at it before turning to me. I didn't need to ask what it meant. It meant that I had to leave.

"Sorry for asking you to leave so suddenly, but I have work to do. Rest assured if you have any inquiries, mission-related or not, feel free to come by the observation room. My door is always open."

Almost as expected, the shattering noise.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Empress Arcana_

And with that, I left for my room. I can't help but smile a little, knowing that not only did I get two more potential Social Links to power my Personas, I've gained two new people that I can hopefully call my friends.

* * *

 _School Grounds, After Hour_ s

I was just done sorting through some stuff. Thankfully due to having extra work here, I was allowed to stay here after school had finished. If I recall correctly, today is the janitor's day off, so I'm the only one here.

 _The court now will announce the verdict of one William Tanner for the charge of…_

The memories flood towards me once again, now that my mind is clear of duties and responsibilities. The trial, the attorney and prosecutor, eyes meeting mine. The jury and all those who attended court, all with judgemental looks fixed upon what I would say, the judge banging his gavel down in when the verdict was finally laid out for all to hear. Though the result was obvious, it still echoed into my body.

I want it out of my head; I want those memories to go away. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. I couldn't erase what I did, what I saw, and what I ultimately done for a cause that I never even thought of much till that day.

As I was about to head for the exit, my hand resting on my head, I noticed something. The door was….swirling, shifting. Not only the door, but the walls, the ceiling, they all swirled and shifted, as though they no longer cared for reality. When it stopped, my blood froze at the sight.

This is definitely not the school I know, nor do I think it exists anywhere in the human world. The feeling of dread slowly but surely creeps up my spine, threatening to bring me to my knees in horror as my breath gets heavier and heavier.

W…Where am I?

 _ **And that's it for Social Link Showdown….this might be the most generic episode yet. On a serious note, we're going after the next "boss", as well as rescuing a familiar face. Till next time, my fellow viewers -ArcanaHermit**_


	18. Chapter Tweleve: Priestess Part I

**Oh boy, here it is. This will be my longest chapter yet. I'm so sorry for the delay, college and my mental state has been really draining me from continuing the fic, but by Igor I will get this as far as I possibly can. Anyways, thanks for sticking for me all this time. I can only try to make it worthwhile –ArcanaHermit**

 _May 24th_

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

The noise eventually woke me up, initially out of annoyance before the importance of the alarm dawned on me.

An emergency alarm whenever a Shadow presence was detected in the real world. I immediately jumped out and headed for the meeting room.

 _Guess it's time for another battle. Hopefully we're more prepared this time._

* * *

4th Floor, Observation Room

"So, where's the next nest?"

Lazard voiced the immediate question in our heads the moment we all gathered here. Dr Valeria, having a calm but a painfully forced expression through her face began tapping buttons on her console until a map popped up, with a location we were all familiar with.

"Shit…"

Our school, the place we go to everyday. The place where thousands of students gather to make friends, to learn, to encourage each other and live an energetic and youthful life, was now a nesting ground for Shadows.

This is not good.

"That's not the only thing. I detected a faint presence there. It's not a hostile signal, from what I've gathered. I'm not sure what it is, but seeing as it's not a Shadow, the only thing it can be is another human."

While we weren't exactly calm before, the newest piece of information practically made us burst in our seats. Lazard and I stood up immediately from our seats, our voices practically in unison.

"Then let's get out there immediately."

"Then what are we standing around here for?"

The only one of us who didn't flinch was, as always, James. He doesn't seem to be perturbed by the fact that another person was trapped in what is essentially a home for mind-eating monsters. It has to be that, or he's extremely good at hiding his concern.

"Relax, if the Shadows wanted him dead, he'd be dead by now. We need to take our time and prepare our weapons, then head in."

Lazard looked as angry as I ever seen him, and turned around to face him. Eyes of fire met eyes of ice, and neither would give an inch.

"Take our time? Are you serious? Every moment we waste, that guy could be under Shadow Possession, or worse. Do you not care for who's inside there at all? What they could be going through?"

James, not raising his voice but making it very clear that he didn't like the tone Lazard was taking with him, decided to simply glare at him further.

"If you like to go in not fully prepared and get yourself killed, then by all means go ahead. Me? I rather not rush to my death, and do things the way actual intelligent people do."

The tension in the air was thick, and they look like they would start punching each other any minute now. I decide to step between them. Hopefully that will prevent anyone from doing anything that they'll regret later.

"Stop, you guys. Fighting isn't going to help. James is right, after the last fight we can't just go in without fully preparing. And from what we know, the presence inside is safe, at least for now. Once we get everything ready, we'll do our best to safe the person, alright?"

For a second I thought it wasn't going to work, that they would start fighting again, or worse. But Lazard seemed to cool down, the tension cooling down. Lazard, though his eyes still looked worried, flashed me a slight smile.

"You're right. Thanks, Kurea."

Dr Valeria simply scoffed, getting our attention back.

"Now, if you gentleman are done, we have a mission to execute. Get dressed up and meet downstairs in five minutes, I've already prepared your weapons."

* * *

 _School Gates_

We stood outside the gates in anticipation while Dr Valeria sets up her equipment. James was inspecting his katanas, Lazard was pacing around nervously, and I was simply leaning against the wall, brushing my blond hair aside and staring at the long sleeves of my new "combat uniform".

The sleek black with white stripes design with the EST logo pinned to the left side of the chest, as well as the long dark pants, all tied up with a belt that holsters our firearms. Dr Valeria said that it was specially designed to take hits from Shadows, so it was reassuring to have an extra form of protection, however little it may be.

"Alright, I'm done calibrating. Both the source of the dungeon and the foreign signal is on the top floor. You may proceed with the operation."

Without a moment of hesitation, we rushed in towards the school. I didn't really care about what dangers await; all I cared was saving whoever was trapped inside there.

 _Hang on, we'll save you._

* * *

 _Temple of the Priestess, 1_ _st_ _Floor_

 _/Alright, you're in. Tell me, what do you see? /_

"It looks like…some ancient structure"

James's description wasn't far off from what I was thinking. In contrast to the zaniness of the first dungeon, this one had an atmosphere similar to when I went to a large temple that one time, though this is far more oppressive in its tone. The floor was black marble; the walls were intricately carved stones depicting battles, killings, and other horrible acts. At the hallway was a stone lion's head that spits out water from its mouth, flowing down into and filling the moat that separated the walls from the floor.

 _/I will scan the area to see what's up ahead. For now move forward and…wait, I hear something./_

"Order, order, the priestess is making her judgment."

We all immediately tense up at the sound that seemed to be emanating from every part of the hallway, it was a loud masculine voice, one that sounded awfully like Circe's, dark and distorted. After a while, it seemed like the voiced was gone saying that one sentence.

"Valeria, mind explaining was that all about?"

 _/I can't exactly say, James. It seems like the voice was coming from the upper floors and- Shadows approaching./_

We immediately looked forward to see two Shadows turn from the right towards us. One looked like a spiky cross and another looked like a beautiful woman with blood streaming down her pink mask, her voice howling at us.

We immediately took battle positions as Lazard took out his gun and fired several shots at them. The first two that aimed for the cross Shadows struck, and the Shadow was momentarily stunned. The other two looked like it was about to hit the woman.

Except that she phased through it, as though it weren't there at all. With increasing speed the Shadow raised its claw to strike down Lazard…

…only to be met with a block from the twin katanas of James, his face still as stoic as ever. Seizing the opportunity and trusting that the other two will handle the woman, I manifest a card to prepare destroying the cross.

"Harmonia, Garula"

The familiar female figure appeared above me. Raising her staff, the downed cross found itself in a green tornado as it quickly got ripped apart by the vortex, its remains quickly dissolving into black dust.

Meanwhile, James swung his katanas downward towards the female shadow, only for it to block the blow with her arms. Smirking, his eyes flashed red as he quickly pulled back and broke a card, Nemesis swinging its sword at her before she could react appropriately, and was subsequently cut in half.

The battle over, I took a minute to catch my breath. Admittedly the battle was easily handled, but I wasn't expecting to be facing the enemy so quickly. However, Dr Valeria's voice quickly pulled us back into attention.

 _/…We have a problem here. I sensed the dungeon ahead and it's all…disconnected. Both hallways lead to dead ends. /_

James, apparently trying to confirm her theory, walked down the hallway and looked down both hallways before scowling.

"Oh, of course it had to be this shit."

Curious, me and Lazard rushed down the hallway and looked at both ends. At first we weren't sure what Lazard was scowling at, but we eventually noticed that the floor at the end of the hallway had glowing circles inscribed onto it, red on the right and blue on the left. After a second of thinking, I finally realized why Lazard looked so annoyed, though he voiced it out before I could, in a voice practically dripping with sarcasm.

"Fucking teleporters in a dungeon. Oh, that's just great."

 _/ (sigh). So it's a teleport puzzle…very well. I'll map out the dungeon as you progress and make sure you don't run into the same teleporter, but for now just pick one and move on. /_

Nodding to each other, we decided to try out the red one; we felt the red light engulfing us…

…and when it faded, two wolf-like Shadows were immediately in front of us at the end of the hallway, howling. As we prepared for battle, James put a hand in front of us and manifested his card.

"We don't have time to waste on these grunts. Burn them to ashes, Cerberus!"

Breaking the card, between us and the wolves appeared a black dog with three heads adorned with black, spiky helms. Its red eyes glowed ominously as it sent a bone-chilling howl, making the two Shadows hesitate. It quickly spat fire from its mouth at the two Shadows, the torrent utterly consuming them as they were reduced to nothing but black slime. Cerberus let out one last howl before fading.

"Damn it."

Wondering what he was cursing about, we looked ahead and spotted nothing but a wall there. It appears that this was a dead end.

* * *

Another teleport. Dead end. Backtrack to the other one.

It seemed to be a reoccurring pattern with this dungeon. Despite Dr Valeria doing her best to map and scout out the dungeon (and to her credit she is the only reason we haven't been completely lost), we were constantly hitting dead ends, with Shadows often waiting for us.

Thankfully those enemies were easy to dispatch, taking only one or two summons from our Personas. Still, each encounter was slowly but surely taking our energies down before we could reach the top.

The second floor was not much better, but at the very least we seem to be getting better and detecting which circles led to dead ends, either though instinct or pure luck. The Shadows were still the usual assortment of ghostly women, crosses, and wolves, which we all knew their attacks and weakness by now.

However, by the third floor, things took a different turn. For what we approached was not a hallway, but a large circular room with the decorations of the previous floors, the stairs just directly in front of us. We prepared ourselves, knowing that things wouldn't be this easy. We knew that we would have to fight our way up.

Just as expected, a figured dropped down from the ceiling. It looked like the same ghostly woman that we faced on the previous floors, but now sporting wings, a much more elegant dress of crimson with gold trimmings, and she was holding what appeared to be a horn.

"So, you were the ones who finished off Circe. Who dared to intrude and try to kill the mistress while she renders judgment? For that you shall be….punished."

Blowing its horn, gusts of wind immediately swarmed towards us. I stood in front of us, not fearing the winds. I have just the thing for this attack.

"Come, Djinn."

Manifested in front of me was a figure of pale blue skin, lean and tall. His black hair flowed down to his ankles, though he was wearing a turban. With both hands stretched out the winds got sucked to his hands as he absorbed it all, letting out a contented sigh.

I felt relieved as well, feeling my energy increase thanks to the Persona's unique ability to absorb any wind attack. This doesn't quite make up for all the energy I wasted on the Shadows below, but it was still a nice pick-me-up. The Shadow looked at me and spat out in disgust, and blew on her horn once more.

This time, thunder and fire spat out towards me. I quickly dodged the strikes as best I could, but a fireball was about to hit me, without time for me to dodge it. Despite that, I kept my smile…

Especially because the fireball was quickly blocked by Ramses, who charged through the others with ease and slammed headfirst into the Shadow, pinning her against the wall as she wailed out in agony. We all knew what this meant, especially as I gave out the order.

"All out attack!"

Almost instantly, we all summoned our Personas at once and began ruthlessly attacking the Shadow, attacking with such a force that smoke started to form where they were attacking. Once the smoke cleared though, the Shadow was clearly defeated. Its mask was broken, she had multiple deep cuts in her torso, and soon enough she eroded into black dust. Lazard quickly smiled and shouted out.

"Alright, that was too easy!"

"Calm down, this was nothing but a warm up. The true test lay ahead."

Those cold words from James quickly deflated Lazard's celebrations, but I think I'm on James's side this time. This wasn't the source of the dungeon, and while we did beat it quite easily, who knows how much more powerful the Shadow at the top of the floor would be?

As James started to head up, I decided to put that question of my mind for now and push on forward.

* * *

 _4_ _th_ _Floor_

As we entered the start of the fourth floor, we immediately noticed the change in layout. While the previous floor had a somewhat creepy feeling, this floor had aesthetics that matched the atmosphere. The lion that spat out water now spat out blood, both from its mouth and its eyes. The carvings have gone from grey to purple, with the depictions getting even more gruesome showing scenes of rape, genocide, and other atrocities. There was now an overhead chandelier that had black flames, spitting out of them.

 _/The layout is the same as the first floor, there should be two teleport circles in the junction ahead/_

Approaching the end of the hall and looking to our left and right, we looked and noticed that there were no circles on the floor. Before we could ask Valeria, the booming voice radiated through the dungeon again.

"We now judge the accused, Nathaniel Tanner. His sentence…guilty"

That name...why it sounded so familia-… Oh no, it's Nate. I turned to look at Lazard, who looked as surprised as I was.

"Wait, the guy trapped her is Nate Tanner? "

The voice soon faded, and James had a look on his face that shows he knows something about this.

"Valeria, isn't he the student who…?"

 _/Yeah. Guys, we better hurry. /_

Lazard looked annoyed and immediately glared at James.

"What are you guys talking about?"

 _/I will explain this later. For now, our top priority is securing his safety./_

"Yeah, but there are no circles, how are we supposed to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he was pushed out of the way by James, mere seconds later the place where he stood was covered in purple flame. I look up and see the chandelier grow black hands and put on a purple mask, before it descended towards me, threatening to impale me.

Damn it, damn it, damn it. I fumbled at what Persona to summon before desperately manifesting a card. Breaking it, the Persona started to manifest, but the chandelier impaled through before it could even fully form, and I feel my head in pain from the recoil.

"Defend, Ramses."

 _/Analysis complete. That Shadow is weak to wind. /_

Though my sight was blurring a bit, I manage to spot the familiar Persona block the Shadow's charge with its Sphinx. Desperate to get into the fight, I summon a quick Pixie to heal my mental strength, my mind partially refreshed enough to Summon another Persona, my anger rising. This Shadow is about to get it, especially since I got the perfect Persona to end it.

"I'm sick of you. Harmonia, blow it to pieces!"

My familiar Persona appeared and raised her staff, and the winds manifest around the chandelier. Its flame quickly fizzled out and the metal got ripped apart, its carcass dropping to the ground before fading.

I lean against the wall, trying not to fall into the moat below and give myself a literal bloodbath. Despite that healing spell by Pixie, my head was still reeling a bit by that surprise attack. I make a mental note to watch out for chandeliers in future corridors, and also jokingly check off "getting mentally assaulted by a living lighting fixture" off my bucket list.

"You alright, Kurea?"

"Y-yeah…just...give me a few minutes to get my bearings."

"Kurea, Lazard, look."

We both turned to look at James, but another thing caught our attention first. A glowing red circle on the floor, which we all knew what that meant.

"Looks like we will have to fight those chandelier Shadows in order to proceed."

"They sure are making it easy for us" Lazard said sarcastically. "You ready, Kurea?"

I take one deep breath before standing upright again, trying to give my most determined look to my teammates ahead of me.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Thankfully the same trick doesn't work twice, as we usually managed to get the drop on the chandelier Shadow before it could react. Unfortunately it was also a rather fast Shadow and was able to cast a speed increasing spell (I believe it's one of the –kaja spells some of my Personas have), meaning we had to expend more time than usual finishing it off. The other Shadows seem to be gone, even the ones awaiting us at the dead ends, all replaced by that menacing chandelier.

Still, it's not like the dead ends weren't completely fruitless, we managed to snatch some valuable items from certain dead ends, and the chandeliers made it easy for me to obtain candles with purple flames, something Victoria requested a few days ago. I hope all the trouble is going to be worth it, my mind immediately recalling one of Victoria's more…interesting ideas of a reward, and secretly hoping it's not that.

However by the time we reached the entrance to the top floor, we were definitely not in top condition. Though I was trying my best to hide it, I was breathing heavily from constantly using my Personas. Lazard was in a similar state, along with a small cut on his shoulder from when one of those chandeliers got too close. James, as always, seemed to do the best of us, but even I could tell by his annoyed expression that he was not in optimal condition. Healing spells (which didn't so much heal as simply give us the energy to fight on) and recovery supplies only helped so far, and unlike Astryia, there was no rest in between to catch our breath.

Still, we have to press on. We have to save Nate.

"Let's do this."

* * *

 _Temple of the Priestess, Final Sanctum_

As we arrived on the top floor, we saw two figures in the center, one ominously floating over the other. The one on the floor was in his school uniform, which I recognize instantly as Nate.

The figure above him was someone both familiar and new. Familiar in the sense that she gives off the same malicious aura as Circe, but her attire was completely different. She was a feminine figure wearing what appeared to be a black robe, with a silk purple dress underneath that showed her hourglass figure and accentuated her pale skin. Her lilac hair was both braided and flowed down to shoulder length, and her eyes were the same shade of yellow. In her hands was an ornate staff of black and silver. Though I would normally consider myself not attracted to the same sex, I couldn't help but find something about her even more…alluring that Circe. I silently hope this doesn't become a reoccurring thing.

"Hmph, it seems we have unexpected guests."

The shadow turned towards us, her yellow eyes filled with disgust.

"So you wish to face my judgment too? I suppose I should introduce myself before destroying you pathetic lot. I am Medea, and you'll soon learn the folly of crossing me."

Raising her staff up high up, two orbs of black energy rained down on the ground. The energy coalesced and took the form of the ghostly woman we saw on the previous floors.

"Get them."

The shadows rushed towards the three of us, their claws raised up. I dodge to the right as the other two dodge to the left avoid their attacks. As long as we can efficiently dodge their…

 _Boom!_

Shit, that can't be good; I looked over just in time to see Lazard get blown across the room, his head hitting the wall and knocking him unconscious.

This is really bad indeed. Medea chuckled before speaking in a mocking tone.

"Oh, did I mention that I might have laid some traps here and there? No? Well, my mistake."

The other two Shadows immediately rushed towards Lazard, who was still knocked out. Thankfully, James stood in front of him and used Ares to block their attacks. I better not waste any time then.

"Forneus, Mabufu"

A gray stingray appeared as I smashed my Persona card. Soon the room started to get colder, and with a slight nod from might Persona, countless ice shards shot across the room to the two ghosts. They were mercilessly impaled by the shards and they were soon covered in ice and shattered. Turning back to Medea, she looked…bored.

"Is that the best you can do? Pitiful fools."

Raising her staff once more, more orbs of energy began emanating from it and down towards the ground, spawning more Shadows: wolves, ghosts, chandeliers.

 _/Alright, I've scanned the area for traps, I'm giving you info on where they are now. /_

A map-like image popped into my head of the circular room, with several red dots filling it. Well, that's one less thing to worry about. Looking to my left, I see that Lazard standing up and shaking his head, at least ready to defend himself.

Alright, that was a bad start, but now it's time to get more serious.

The newly spawned Shadows rushed all at once to our location. Trusting that my friends could handle the Shadows sent to them, I looked in front at the adversaries coming my way. Two chandeliers, two ghosts and three wolves were what I'm facing.

If I'm being honest to myself, I'm probably at about 60% when it comes to energy reserves, and it probably take all my energy in order to fight off what I had to deal with. So I suppose it's time to try out that "new" Persona move that I had, that I somehow accidentally got from the Velvet Room. Channeling my focus, the card appeared before me.

"Come, Ukobach"

Breaking the card, a tiny little devil like creature appeared before me. Now it's time for to use the new skill. I know it will probably drain me a lot, but it's the only thing I have to finish them all off at once. Focusing my thoughts on the move, Ukobach raised his spoon up high, and the flame covering it turned purple.

"Megido!"

Throwing the purple flame towards the oncoming Shadows, it hit the front most wolves and exploded with a loud boom and blinding purple light. After the flashed though, all that was left was purple smoke.

 _Thump thump_

My lungs suddenly feel like they are on fire and my heart is beating like crazy. I can feel myself sweating and panting, and my legs feel like they are about to give out. I took out the group, but the cost was way more than I expected. I heard Medea let out a venomous chuckle.

"Well, to think you knew Megido. But it seems you're not yet ready to use it, judging by your current condition. Regardless of that, I'll make sure you won't be able to cast it again…permanently."

I wince in pain as an invisible force hit me in the stomach, putting me on my knees. I coughed and saw that my blood was on the floor. My ears were ringing.

"Kurea!"

"Now now, I'll get to you in a hurry. But I'll let my pets play with you some more. As for you…"

Another strike hit my stomach, and I coughed up more blood. I was struggling to kneel, and even with my blurred hearing I could hear Medea's loud laughter.

"Time to end this."

Looking up, I saw that her staff began emanating fire. As it build and build up, she began pointing the staff directly at me, looking at my right, I could see Lazard and James still struggling with several Shadows.

"Goodbye…forever!"

As the fireball launched towards me, I closed my eyes. I supposed this is the end, huh? I never thought that I'd die this young, or that death could be so terrifying.

"Protect her, Oedipus."

I opened my eyes, and saw that I was no longer where I was. I looked up and realized I was being carried by a man with wholly blue eyes and green hair. Despite the dire situation, I smiled.

We still have a chance.

 **And that's it for the chapter. Boy was that a bitch to write, especially since I had technical problems along the way. Regardless I hope you find this chapter entertaining and worth your time reading it. Until next time, viewers –ArcanaHermit**


	19. Chapter Thirteen: Priestess Part II

**Alright I'm back, and it's time to conclude another boss fight. I just gained another favorite, so shout out to you, you're awesome. Now, let's hope this comes out way faster than the last one –ArcanaHermit.**

As I readjusted my bearings, I realized something I definitely didn't expect. The person who summoned Oedipus was not James with his Wild Card.

It was Nate. He was standing up now, the familiar blue aura surrounding him as he looked at me. Oedipus put me down next to him while Medea began fuming.

"How dare you, you insignificant flea. I'll see your guts spilled for this."

She raised her staff up in the air, and lightning poured down on us. I tried to focus enough to summon my Persona but I'm still shaken by those previous attacks. Just as they were about to hit us, they were stopped by the shield of Ares. Medea turned around just in time to dodge out of the way of Ramses's charge.

Looking at James and Lazard, I could see they were panting. It was clear we were close to running on fumes at this point. Suddenly, we heard Dr Valeria's voice again.

 _/Don't give up. I finished analyzing her, and she's low on energy as well. Mr Tanner, I know this is sudden, but I would like to request your aid in this battle./_

Looking back at Tanner, I could see the fear on his face, the same fear I had during that fateful night at the dorm. However, I also saw his resolve as well. He looked to me and I gave him a nod.

"Y-yeah, I'll do it. I'll support you guys from the backlines"

Medea was beyond furious, her lilac hair swirling. Her next words soft but dripping with rage.

"Enough of this, I'll finish you off both myself."

Slamming the butt of her staff onto the ground, the Shadow below her rose up and took from of a dark, translucent replica of her.

 _/Scanning…that clone can cast spells, but it's fragile. One hit should dispel it. /_

Just as that sentence finished, both Medea and the clone shot out two large fireballs, one at me and Nate, one at Lazard and James. I hear a card breaking and realized it was Nate who did it.

"Oedipus, Marakukaja"

Oedipus manifested above him. Getting a closer look at it, he was a brown skinned man with black eyes and brown hair. He was wearing a long crimson toga and he had a short sword on one hand. Raising the sword up high, I suddenly felt much tougher. As the fireball was almost nearing me, I manifest a Chariot card in my hand.

"Defend us, Ara Mitama!"

Breaking the card, a red teardrop with a face manifested in front of us, taking the full brunt of the fireball. I felt my stomach churning and, combined with earlier, threatened to make me throw up. Thankfully, my Persona managed to successfully defend it.

"Naga, Bufula"

I looked to the right just in time to see a large shard of ice impale the clone, shattering it like glass. Medea screamed and raised her staff high, and spells of ice and thunder started to rain down on us.

"Damn you, damn you, damn you."

 _/Weather the storm, she's almost out of energy…I got it. Tanner, use Masukukaja"/_

"O-ok. Oedipus, Masukukaja"

The Persona once again raised his sword and a green light started to flash. I felt faster and decided to conserve my energy and simply dodge the attacks, making extra sure not to step on any land minds. I look at Nate and see that he's doing the same, and I can't help but feel he's a natural at this. It was only a second though as I return my focus to evading sudden death.

It was a deadly dance, Medea raining down spells and us dodging them. Getting hit meant death, stepping on a land mine meant death; all it would take was a simple misstep. In what seemed like eternity, I was dodging fires, ice shards, lightning, and wind, all aimed towards me. I couldn't even check to see if my teammates got hit, I could only trust that they did.

The dance went on…

And on…

And on…

And suddenly, I was surprised when the spells stopped. Medea was panting, smoke emitting from her staff as though it was overheated. Despite the injury, the fear, the doubt, I smiled. We survived the worst of it.

And now the counterattack can begin.

Turning to the two on the other side, I could see they were smiling as well. They each manifested their card as I suddenly felt a surge within me. Looking to my other side, Oedipus's sword was covered in an orange light.

Not skipping a beat, I pulled out my Persona card. It's about time to end this.

"PERSONA!"

I felt the burst of power as all our Personas charged Medea, a look of fear on her eyes. All of our Personas charged towards her and slammed directly into her. A cloud of dust started to build up and by the time it faded, what was left of Medea was a bloody mess, leaning on the floor.

Her arms were cut off, and there were three holes on her chest. Her face was mostly bruised and bloody, and she was coughing out blood. She looked at us and spat out blood.

"You…bastards…insects…how could you…beat me? Me, the feared…Medea…beaten by the likes of you."

That was all she said before her head went down, her body dissolving to nothing but black dust. The room began swirling and distorting, and just like that, we were in our familiar school hallway.

 _/Nice work you guys, now we can finally explain to Mr Tanner here tha-/_

I didn't hear the end of that sentence as my consciousness started slipping away. All I could recall before my thoughts stopped was that I was falling, the others calling out to me.

* * *

 _Unknown Building, Unknown Floor_

"They're coming out. I spot three…no. There are four of them excluding the one outside"

I put down my binoculars. Zak and Rene stood beside me as I relayed the situation to them.

"Hmm…it seems they have a new ally in the fold. Vet interesting, very interesting indeed."

"Then let's get down there and take them out now. We can easily wipe the floor wit-"

"No, the time is not right to reveal ourselves. Our goal is to simply observe their movements."

I couldn't help but scoff at both the nerve and the idiocy of Zak's planning. I decide to glare at him, which only resulted in an amused look from him. I swear if he wasn't so important, I'd have no problem wiping that smug grin off his face.

"Wrong. That's your goal, not mine. My goal is to destroy the Society and everyone involved in it. I'm going down there, whether you like it or not."

Zak finally dropped his grin and frowned.

"You do realize that, should you do such an act, our interests will no longer be aligned and therefore, our partnership would be at an end."

I pick up on what he was saying. It didn't take a genius to know that if I go against him, he'd try to fry me right here and now. As much as I want to, it was him and Rene against me, and I have no intention of dying without settling the score. I turned away, doing my best not to simply punch the asshole in the face.

"Fine, but sooner or later I will fight them"

This only prompted a chuckle from Zak.

"Rest assured, you will have your opportunity for vengeance. When they are at their most hopeful, that is when we shall cast them low."

* * *

Black.

It was all I could see, it was all I felt. I had no concept of how much time has passed. Has it been an hour? A day? A week? I couldn't open my eyes to check, an invisible force preventing me from opening them.

During the time I vaguely felt something on my body. Was I being moved? I couldn't tell.

Time seemed to pass by so slowly. It passed…

And passed…

And passed…

 _Beep_

I heard something. After what felt like forever I heard something. A rhythmic beating sound that I have heard before. Does that mean I could open my eyes now? It couldn't hurt to try. I slowly attempted to open my eyes…

…and was greeted by the view of a plain white ceiling.

"Kurea!"

Looking around me, I saw that the rest of EST was here: James, Lazard, and Dr Strauss. All of them looked at me with relief in their eyes. Well, most of them. James didn't look much different than he normally is. I decided to ask the question at the top of my head, though my voice was creaky and my throat was dry.

"How long have I been out?"

"About a day, it's currently Thursday evening." Dr Strauss said a slight smile on her face. "The doctors said that you had minor injuries a bit of exhaustion, that's all."

"I see" I said as I took a sip of water. Before I finished my water, I saw the door slide open and someone come in. It was Nate; he gave Dr Strauss a nod before moving towards my bed and bowing down.

"H-hi Kurea, I'm glad you woke up." He said in a rather nervous tone. "Dr Strauss told me about what happened last night, about Shadows, Personas and all that."

"Oh…how are you taking it?"

He remained silent for a while before finally answering.

"I-I don't know. I think I'm still trying to process that fact."

"I know you all are tired from the battle, and that some of you haven't fully recovered." Dr Strauss said before turning to me. "And I'm sure we all want to rest, but there is something I'd like to request of you all tomorrow. It's just a simple briefing, and it won't be long."

Everyone in the room nodded and the conversation turned to lighter discussion, particularly about the upcoming holidays. Once it began to be dark out, everyone decided to head back except me. Dr Strauss told me I would be discharged tomorrow.

Nate was the one who left last. Before he closed the door he gave me a smile.

"I've said it to everyone else but…thank you for saving me. If you ever wish to hang out, I'll see if I am available. Perhaps we can know more about each other."

With that he closed the door behind him. I heard the ever familiar booming noise.

 _I art thou, and thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana_

I smile. Another bond has been forged, another ally. I looked out the window to see the night sky. The stars are out, and the moon was shining brightly. I remember looking up at that sky a lot, always having an odd sense of hope when I did. I felt that same feeling now, an odd sense that no matter what, everything will turn out fine.

 **And that's it for the Priestess. Hopefully I've made improvements in my writing and storytelling, even if it's in incremental amounts. Regardless, I will see you all next time -ArcanaHermit**


	20. Chapter Fourteen: New Blood

**And now it's time for the next chapter. I've actually gotten more motivated in writing, and hopefully I can carry that momentum forward. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I want to thank each and every one of you who took time out of your day to read my fic. Now on to the chapter –ArcanaHermit**

 _School Cafeteria, Lunchtime_

"Hey, glad to see you're back."

I was in the middle of eating my salad when Elise sat down on the table opposite me, the same smile on her face. Since I came to class rather late today, all we exchanged was a simple wave before the teacher came in. Guess she must want the inevitable update on my condition.

"So…want to tell me what happened? This is the second time Lazard covered for you, so you better have a good explanation."

"Uhhh…" Shit, I'm blanking out on an excuse, and I obviously can't tell her the truth. Think of something, Kurea. "Training…accident?"

"Right" Elise responded with a smirk, rolling her eyes as she did so. "Since we're friends, I won't prod into why you were really absent. I know you're not the type to do anything illegal or dangerous."

Oh if only she knew. Not the former, arguably, but the latter. Multiple times, actually.

"Hey."

I looked over to my right and saw that Jon and Jane took up the seats beside me as they begin digging into their lunch.

"We heard you were absent yesterday. What happened?" Jane asked in between bites of his spaghetti.

"Training accident" Elise and I said almost simultaneously. We looked at each other as she gave me a wink, and I couldn't help but chuckle. Jane just looked at me oddly before continuing to eat her spaghetti.

"So…holidays are coming up. Any plans?" Elise said nonchalantly.

"Training, studying for exams, and more training" Jane said enthusiastically.

"The same, minus the extra training" Jon said before turning to me. "Jane is coming over for a study group during the last week of our holidays. If you'd like to come, Kurea, we'd be happy to have you."

"I'll think about it." I said, as I dig a fork into my almost finished meatloaf. I honestly had no plans for the holidays. I know Astryia is going to be part of it; people who save others from mind-eating monsters tend to have no breaks, after all. But apart from that, I really had no idea what to do in my free time.

We talked for a while before the school bell ringed, and we all head to our respective classes.

* * *

 _Liverty City, "C" District_

"So you've returned…"

"Yeah" I said as I handed over a paper bag over to Jack, who bowed to me before taking it and eating through the food inside. "The bakery had some bread leftover, so it was cheaper than usual."

"T-thank you…" Jack said solemnly "I suppose you would want to know more about my past?"

"Yeah, I suppose I'm a bit curious."

The man looked down, shame in his eyes. "I was…a successful man once, full of pride and energy. And then I threw it all away for nothing…"

He reached for his torn jacket and produced a small business card, handing it to me. I took at look at it and saw that it was for a business firm, with his name as the owner.

"You owned a business firm?" I said.

"Indeed…I started it when I was seventeen years of age. My parents had very high expectations of me, and I did not want to let them down…"

"I see. What happened?"

"I..." He looked at me before taking a deep sigh. "I'm sorry; I think that's all I can tell of my past for now, perhaps another time."

"A-alright"

"Thank you for taking time out of your day to help a pathetic man like me." Jack said with a slight smile on his face. "People like you are just what the world needs more of."

Just as he said that, the booming noise was in my head.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Tower Arcana_

"I think you should head home." Jack said, looking up at the orange sky. "It's about to be dark."

"R-right"

* * *

 _Silverpoint Point Dormitories, Lobby_

"Now, thank you for your time. First of all, on the matter I'm sure you're all most curious about. You may come in, Mr Tanner."

As soon as Dr Strauss finished, the door opened and out stepped Nathan, a luggage bag in his hand. He was also wearing a combat uniform, the EST Logo on his chest. He gave us a quick bow and a smile.

"Once again, I'd t-thank you all for saving me. Dr Strauss has already told me about the whole thing, and I'd like to help if I'm able to."

"Are you sure about this, Dr Strauss?" Lazard said. "I know he signed up for this voluntarily, but won't we be prying him away from his home?"

"I-it's alright. My mother actually thinks it'd be nice if I got to live with other people, and Dr Strauss told my mom I was thinking about this for some time." Nathan replied. "Besides, I think I'd want to…repay my debts."

The two looked at each other and exchanged an awkward glance before looking away at each other. Lazard turned back to Dr Strauss.

"Now then, you promised you'd tell me everything." He said, his face turning serious. "I'd like to know how you knew about Nathan."

It wasn't Dr Strauss that responded, but James.

"We scanned the school for anyone with the potential to wield a Persona, and Nathan was a prime candidate. With Dr Valeria's…ties to the school, it wasn't hard for it to be authorized."

At that very moment Lazard jumped out of his chair and stared right at James, his face clearly angry.

"You did what!? You promised me that you wouldn't drag any more students into this mess, both of you did."

Dr Strauss looked to the side and adjusted her glasses, while James didn't even look at Lazard, his face looking very bored for someone in his shoes.

"That was before the first incident with Circe. After that, it became imperative that we discover more people willing to fight. And besides, we promised that we wouldn't drag anybody without their consent, nothing more and nothing less."

"Still, recruiting from the students?" Lazard practically spat out. "Kurea and I was one thing, but they're teenagers and you're actively searching for them and asking them to risk their necks? Do you see them as nothing but a means to an end?"

"Regardless of what we see you as, that's definitely what Dr Valeria's higher ups see you as." James retorted, his face almost looking like a smirk. "Besides, the more we have, the less risk there is in for anyone involved in the participation of fighting Shadows. I'm surprised that obvious fact didn't go through that thick head of yours."

"Why you little…" Lazard stood up, his fists clenched. At this point everyone in the room was pretty sure what he was going to do. It was at this point that Dr Strauss interjected.

"That's enough." Dr Strauss glared at James, who merely looked away annoyed. She softened her look before turning to Lazard.

"Yes, we have been looking among the school populace for Persona users. However, if they were to decline our offer, we would simply accept that fact. I understand your disagreements with how we do things, but know that we wouldn't do anything that goes against a person's choice."

Lazard, his face still angry, finally loosened his hands and sat back down.

"I can understand that, but that's still a breach of conduct." He said his voice softer than before. "If you do anything like that and go behind my back, I'm done. With all of it…"

"You have my word." Dr Strauss said.

"She only said that because we were already done scanning the school body." James interjected, his face still turned away. "And that Nathan was the only one with any sort of potential."

This time, James and Dr Strauss glared at him together. I looked over at Nate, who was looking like he'd honestly rather be anywhere else. I wouldn't blame him, I feel like exiting this place myself.

"Moving on to our lat point…"Dr Strauss said. "I have already confirmed that the barrier leading further into Astryia has been removed. I know it might be the holidays, but it is my hope that we can reach the next one before it ends. With Mr Tanner's help, that should be entirely within the realm of possibility."

After a brief moment of silence, she ended the meeting. Lazard immediate stood up, took one last look at James, before going upstairs. James stood up later and walked out of the dorm, leading Dr Strauss to sigh.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that, both of you." Dr Struass said. "Well, I have some things to attend to. You know your room is, Mr Tanner? Good, now if you'll excuse me."

Dr Strauss went upstairs as well, leaving me and Nathan alone.

"Today has been quite the day…" Nathan said.

"You're telling me. Anyways, holiday is coming up. Any plans?"

"Not really. I was thinking of heading to some stores, but that's it. Actually, would you mind accompanying me?"

"Sure." I said almost instantly.

"Thank you." He said in a grateful tone, before yawning. I giggled at him, causing him to blush. "I think I'll retire early for the night. Good night."

He took off upstairs. With nothing better to do, I decided to go up to my room and study. I managed to go through half a science book before feeling tired. I lazily plopped on the bed and began sleeping, wondering what the holidays is going to have in store for me.

 **And that's it for this chapter. Nothing much to say this time. –ArcanaHermit**


	21. Social Link Scramble VI

**And I'm back with more Social Link Showdowns. It's actually been a while since our last one, so hopefully I managed to make it a good one today. Anyways, enough rambling, on to the chapter –ArcanaHermit**

 _Silverpoint Dormitories, Kurea's Room_

After waking up, I decided to turn on the small TV in my room. I had some meetings with my friends, but they were later in the day. I scrolled through the channels at random: sports, dramas, movies, dramas and more dramas.

I finally stopped on what looked to be a game show. Now this was my kind of show. I had no doubt that the outcomes of some shows were more or less rigged, but I really couldn't care less. There was something about a game show that just appealed to me.

"Hello, Liverty Citizens and welcome to…SPIN! TO! WIN! We're your hosts Iris "Ziz" Irivel…"

"…and me, Darnell Jermaine"

Huh, this seems like a fun little show. I continued to watch the show as they explained the rules. It was about contestants trying to spin from a large wheel, and they'd either get prizes or get punishments. I found myself engrossed in the show, on the various spins and humorous ways of punishment, but the most engrossing part was that theme song. It reminded me of cheesy cartoon intros that my dad used to show me, but I can't help but find myself humming to it when they played it for the third time.

Just when the show ended, another episode started. Apparently it was a rerun, so seeing that I had some time, I decided to watch some more of it.

It was only when I glanced at the clock randomly that I realized that I was close to being late.

"Shit"

With a speed only desperation is capable of pushing me to; I quickly clean myself up and head out.

* * *

 _Liverty City Mall, Raida Clothing Store_

"La la la la…spin to win…da da da…"

I was humming that catchy tune when Elise suddenly looked at me. She used her mouth to cover her giggle, but even if I didn't see it, I can definitely hear it. I feel my cheeks heat up.

"So, you're finally under the Liverty City curse, are you?"

"W-what do you mean?"

She giggled some more while she ran her hands through the clothing rack, trying to pick one out. She eventually pulled out a long purple sundress with an intricate butterfly sewn on its left breast. "Oh I know the symptoms: you being late, not being focused, and humming that song that everyone here knows. You watched Spin to Win, didn't you?"

"Y-yes" I admitted immediately.

"Eh, it was about time." She said as she entered the changing room, her voice still loud enough to carry over to me, much to the cashier's annoyance. That was the extent of it as there was no one else there and thank God for that.

"Pretty much everyone watches the show here. It's why we call it the Curse around here, because that damn theme song makes you want to watch it, whether you like it or not."

Elise came out, and did a very model-like pose in her newly worn sundress. "So…what do you think?"

I chuckled at her over the top way of posing. "It's cute, and it suits you. I'd say you should buy it."

As Elise quickly went to change back into her normal garb, a leather jacket with a pink and white striped shirt underneath, some long black pants, and oddly enough a beret hat, I wonder whether I should buy something here. I've been here long enough, and a change of clothes might suit me. But much to my surprise, Elise simply took the sundress, placed it back on the rack where it belong and walked out. I saw that the cashier visually fuming, so I decided to skip out quickly in case he decided to take it out on me.

As I walked along with Elise, I noticed that she wasn't smiling, which was rare for her.

"I-is everything ok, Elise?"

She sighed. "I didn't get to buy that cute sundress, so of course not. My mother cut my spending money because of my mock exam tests."

I wince, recalling the conversation we had right after mock exams. "W-were they really that bad?"

"Urgh, like you wouldn't believe." Elise muttered. "Still, taking away my spending money is too cruel. I can't even treat you for ramen now…you'll have to pay for your own, sorry about that…"

I pat her on the back. It was a simple gesture, but she smiled at me regardless. "You should study more if you want to get your spending money back…"

Her smile soon faded into another groan, I wonder if I should be laughing or sympathizing. "I know, it's just studying is soooo boring, and those questions are so hard. And things at home…."

She stayed silent for a minute, before continuing.

"I think I trust you enough to tell you. Things at home…haven't been working out too well. My dad recently got promoted, so he's running extra shifts. My mom has been more…distant as well lately. I rarely see them, and almost never catch them together unless it's late at night."

I took a long look at her face, and saw that she was looking so sad, so vulnerable. I felt as though she was going to break down and cry… But she turned towards me and smile.

"Don't tell anyone, alright? I don't want our classmates to start gossiping about me, hehe."

Even though she was laughing about it, I could tell she was putting on a brave face. As I was wondering how respond, the familiar booming noise made its way into my head.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Magician Arcana_

The voice passed, and I noticed Elise was on her phone, talking to someone. She turned to me, frowning.

"Sorry, I have to go. My mom's calling for me. See you." She said before dashing off. I suppose I'll have to respond to her another time. Looking at my phone, I saw that it was barely afternoon. I decided to browse through my contacts to see if any of them wanted to hang out.

* * *

 _Shopping District, The Coffee Seed_

"Thanks for inviting me, Nate."

Nate, sitting opposite me nodded while sipping his coffee. This is actually the first time I've seen him without the school uniform and it was very…black? Yeah, that's the only way I can describe it. A black leather jacket with a similarly black shirt underneath topped off with black jeans to finish it off. I might have made a joke about his attire sucking out all the color of the coffee place, but I'd rather not potentially tick off a guy I don't really know that well yet.

Instead, I took a swig of my own iced coffee, enjoying the light jazz piece being played over the radio. The coffee place itself had a pretty nice atmosphere despite being located at the end of a pretty seedy looking alleyway and having very little customers, with soft chairs, low dim lights, and a bar where two guys were playfully bickering with one another.

Nate talking stopped my train of thought. "Before you hang out with me, I suppose I should tell you something important. Are you aware that Lazard's father is dead?"

"Yeah, he was breaking up a fight-"

"And someone shot him in anger, killing him. That person's name is William Tanner…my father."

If I was drinking my coffee, I would have definitely spat it out at that very moment. My hands were squeezing my cup so hard that I'm surprised it didn't break. Nathan looked me in the eyes before giving me a sad smile. It all made sense now: his somber attitude, his tone of voice, his unhappy demeanor.

"I understand that that was a rather…surprising reveal. Regardless, I feel as I should tell you this now if you we are to ever meet again. I've…been judged by my actions before. Rather harshly."

I took a deep look at him at saw that he felt…guilty? Angry? Sad? I couldn't tell. All I know is that he isn't feeling happy, and I wasn't going to have any of that, especially since he saved my life.

"I won't judge you. The past is the past, and that was what your father did. Regardless of what happened, I'll still be your friend, I promise."

He looked at me, his eyes widening, and smiled. He gave me a nod and took another sip of his coffee. We sat there in silence, sipping our coffee and not exactly knowing what to say, but knowing that what we said was enough. After a good long while, Nate took a look at the clock and stood up, placing a 20 dollar bill on the table.

"I need to go. My mother expects me to visit her at this time of day. You can keep the change, and don't bother about returning it to me. I know we didn't talk much here, but I'm sure they'll be other opportunities."

I give him another nod as I finished the last of my coffee. Before he left, he blushed and gave me an admittedly goofy looking smile.

"And…thanks…for being my friend."

For the second time this day, the booming noised returned.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana_

The booming noised faded, and Lazard was gone. I looked at the clock and saw that it was around 2pm. I still have time.

* * *

 _Silverpoint Dormitories, Observation Room_

"I admit I'm really surprised you choose to spend your time with me." Dr Strauss said. "I thought you had other social contacts with higher priorities."

I gave a simple shrug, leaning comfortably on the couch. "They weren't free, I suppose. Besides, it's not like I don't enjoy seeing you, Dr Strauss."

"Mmm, I appreciate it. And Valeria, I insist." She said as she sat on the couch opposite me, adjusting her glasses. Instead of the usual formal lab coat, she instead wore a very stylish white shirt that exposed her back, topped with long skintight pants. I was honestly shocked when I first saw her in those clothes, I thought they were much too risqué for someone who is so usually calm and formal. Just because I thought that doesn't mean I'm going to say it out loud though.

"Well, I'm glad one team member finds me worth their time at the very least…"she said a she took a sip of the teacup in her hand. "Lazard hasn't really spoken to me since the meeting, and James is…James."

"How long have you known James?" I prod, trying not to sound as curious as I really am.

"Around the time I moved into the Society's special division, so a few years at this point." She took a deep breath and sighed. "Though sometimes I still feel as though I've known him for two minutes, with how he acts."

"Why is he like that? I don't feel like prying, but was he always so…so…"

"Aloof? Cold? Truth be told, he is a…special case." She said with a hint of pity in her tone. "That's all I can reveal unfortunately, and rest assured I'm doing all I can to make him more sociable, but it's hard. I'm afraid I'm not very good with younger people as I am with adults."

"Couldn't you just talk with him more?" I ask. I sorta know it's a dumb question, but I didn't think of any other way to help her.

"I've talked to him quite a lot, but he refuses to listen. For someone who claims to have no pride in anything, he is very stubborn." She said, before looking me in the eyes and smiling. "I do appreciate the suggestion though, Kurea. It's always nice to see people trying to help one another. It's something this day and age sorely lacks."

She stood up and went over to the console, clicked on a button, and soon the whole room was suddenly filled with music, with a very smooth voice entering my ears.

 _~Blue moon…You saw me standing alone…Without a dream in my heart…Without a love of my own~_

"You know Frank Sinatra?" Valeria turned around and said with a sly smile on her face. "I always play a song when it gets too stuffy for my liking, especially a song from him."

"I've heard of him." I responded, my head swaying to the music. "And judging from this song, I might start listening to him."

"Good to know I can promote some good music." She laughed softly, before sitting back into the couch, in a more relaxed position. "Admittedly my first preference would be country music, but people aren't really…fond of it here. James especially had some rather choice comments."

We both laughed, with me silently imagining the things James would say. As we both finished our tea, Valeria poured some more into our cups. We talked for what felt like hours, even if in reality it was only about half an hour.

"Well, as fun as it was, I have some work to do." Valeria said after our fifth cup of tea. "Thank you for spending your time with me Kurea, I truly appreciate the company."

The noise I long expected by now returned.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Empress Arcana_

With a final goodbye to Valeria, I walked out of the room…

…Only to bump right into James as I did so.

"S-sorry" I immediately shouted out, though he didn't seem to mind.

"It's alright." He said, though his tone indicated more boredom than apologetic. "I was just about to head in there. Tell me she isn't playing those southern drawls she calls music?"

I shook my head "No, she's playing Frank Sinatra."

"Good. She has some good choices in music at least." He said before walking to the door.

"W-wait!" I said immediately, causing him to stop. "Um…what are you doing this holiday?"

"Nothing I wouldn't do on a school day." He shrugged, turning his head to face me. "Train, study, have my mandatory talk with Valeria, and that's about it."

"I see, would you like to hang out?" I ask, but was greeted by a long silence.

"…Very well, I suppose I can find time." He said before entering the Observation Room's door and closing it.

With that done, I let a slight yawn slip from my mouth, tired from the busy day I set up for myself. I decided to head to my room, watch some more TV, eat some cup noodles and eventually sleep.

 **And done and done. I'm debating whether to continue with another Showdown or a story chapter. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this little chapter, and may you continue to watch the chapters to come -ArcanaHermit**


	22. Chapter Fifteen: Close Encounter

**And I'm back. Sorry for the delay, I had to go through another bout of depression and a two week internship of sorts, but now it's time to focus on this fic. Hopefully I can satisfy all those who favorite my work, it's the least this bad writer can do. –ArcanaHermit**

 _Astryia Entranceway._

As Valeria was re-calibrating her equipment, I went over to talk to Nate. It's been a few days since he moved in, and he was fitting in rather well, talking to Dr Valeria and me most of all. He didn't interact much with Lazard, for reasons I now know from our little moment in the coffee shop, and James because he was James.

He flashed me a smile as he was putting something on his arms. From the look of them, they look like metal gauntlets. Otherwise he was wearing his standard EST uniform.

"Hmm…didn't think you were the punching type." I said jokingly.

"And the kicking type too." He chuckled a little. "I'm pretty good on my feet. My father was crazy about Capoeira and Parkour, and I may have picked up a trick or two." He said has he begun hopping side to side eagerly. Despite his good mood, I'm not rather comfortable with bringing up the subject of his dad, so I decided to move on to other things.

"You sure you're ready for this? It's your first time."

"I got this. You got my back, and I got yours." He said with a confident smile on his face that I've never seen before. I was going to respond when Dr Valeria called for us.

"I've calibrated the equipment to beyond the second block, so I should be able to give you some intelligence. Let us begin."

We all headed for the teleporter, and began transporting ourselves to the end of the second block, a new one ahead, with new enemies. With Nate on our team, we should have more than enough manpower, but I'll still keep vigilant. Never know what those Shadows are gonna throw at us.

* * *

 _3th Block Skyla_

Entering the block, we immediately looked at our surroundings. As usual, the look of the entire floor changed completely. The room was now dark, not pitch black but it did make the end of the hallway hard to see. The walls formed a diamond pattern, inlaid with jewels of many different colors. The floor was a red and blue checkerboard pattern. Ahead on a wall was a carving of a beautiful woman with crown on her head, raising her scepter up high.

 _/The guardian is still far away from you, but I don't know exactly how long. Proceed for now./_

We all slowly moved ahead. Once we reached the end of the hallway, we noticed four Shadows to our right. When we were just about to reach the hallway, we were stopped by a hand from James.

"What is it?" James said.

He pointed to a hallway to the right. There was a circular light shining on there, and it was moving to the left. It moved all the way past us to the hallway to our left, where four Shadows were. Two of them were birds, while the other two looked like knights in armor. They should be charging at us, yet they seem to be doing nothing, just…standing there.

"Looks like they rely on their little spotlight for detection. Time for a sneak attack." James said.

 _/Very well…on my signal…/_

Every one of us tensed up, awaiting the signal. I looked over at my teammates: James, calm and collected, Lazard, nervous and anxious, and Nate, new to all this but with an eager look. Together we sneaked down the left hallway, getting closer while avoiding the spotlight…

 _/NOW!/_

I pounced to one of the bird Shadows, my staff hitting it, sending it down to the ground. It was then that the other three Shadows noticed us, but it was too late as Lazard, James and Nate attacked them as well. The fish I downed was trying to get up, but I quickly summoned Eligor, who rode in and stabbed the fish with his spear.

I looked over to Nate. He was staring down one of the knight Shadows, about a foot taller than him and much larger. He was about to swing his sword down, but he managed to dodge to the side with little effort and retaliate with an acrobatic kick to the stomach, sending the thing reeling back and crashing into another knight that Lazard was engaging. Looking at me and nodding, he punched his Persona card and summoned Oepidus, and I felt myself getting stronger as the orange light from its sword radiated over me.

"How about that move we've been practicing, Kurea?" Lazard said, his hands already manifesting his Persona card. I smiled and manifest mine. For a moment, our minds were in sync as we crushed our cards at once.

"Ramses"

"Harmonia"

Summoning our Personas at once, Harmonia raised her staff and a green wind swirled around Ramses focusing down to a point in front of him like a tip of a spear. Ramses whipped his stone sphinxes and they began charging towards the felled knight. The wind instantly tore a hole where the thing's torso had been as the Egyptian Persona effortlessly passed through it into one of the preoccupied fish Shadows, destroying most of its body. Only two left.

"Time to end this, Maragion!"

I heard the sound of glass shattering, and turned to look at Cerberus breathing a wave of fire at the remaining two Shadows. The fished burnt away instantly, but the knight wasn't fazed as it got out of the fire to grab at Cerberus. Unfortunately for him, it faded away as James jumped up its hand and stabbed the knight's mask with his katanas, sending it crashing to the ground.

 _/Shadows defeated. Good job everyone./_

"Yeah, thanks for the boosting spell, Tanner." Lazard said.

Nate managed an awkward "thanks" before looking away. It seems things are still awkward between the two of them, at least on Nate's end, and I really can't fault him for that. While it wasn't his fault, his dad shooting Lazard's was a rather…sensitive subject.

"We should avoid combat if possible. It seems the Shadows won't notice us if we stay out of the spotlights." James said as the dust Shadows turned into black dust. "The less tired we are, the further we can travel."

All of us nodded, though I can still see a hint of anger from Lazard, not quite over the incident in the meeting. Regardless, we decided to proceed.

* * *

 _/There are no Shadows in your immediate vicinity. You make take a short rest before moving on./_

"Whew, thank god." Lazard said as he leaned against a wall, slightly panting. "I feel like shit right now."

"Well that's what happens when you don't notice your surroundings and a giant fish rams you into a wall." James said, his voice utterly deadpan. "I thought you knew how to fish."

"Oh, fuck off." Lazard said angrily, making James turn away. I could have sworn I saw a smirk on his face before he turned.

I looked over and saw something shined as near the end of the hallway. As I approached it, I looked down and saw something on the floor. It was a purplish orb that glowed brightly for something so small. Another thing to add to our inventory couldn't hurt. I knelt down and picked it up…

 _Clink, clank, clink…kehahahahahaha!_

….only to hear the most creepy sound in a long time. It sounded like…chains rattling, followed by a loud cackle that felt like it made the entire room shake. My heart was immediately filled with fear, and I quickly looked to my teammates. Lazard and Nate looked as frightened as I am, and even James looked shook. Valeria's voice suddenly filled our head, her voice frightened.

 _/A strong signature just appeared at the floor entrance and is currently inbound to your location. It's…so powerful, like nothing I've ever felt before. Quick, you need to run before it catches up to you./_

The sudden warning from her only made our nerves itch. We quickly scrambled to run to the next floor, the sound of rattling chains getting louder and louder. We decided to not use stealth and simply run pass the spotlight, alerting nearby Shadows. Now they were chasing us as well, but I'd rather fight a horde of them then whoever was making that rattling noise.

As we continue to run our way up the stairs, praying to God that we didn't go to a dead end, I turned around and finally saw what was chasing us.

It was a Shadow unlike any I've ever seen before. It was a tall humanoid wearing a black robe with red patterns on the top and yellow buttons, with two chains surrounding his lanky torso area. He had no legs as he was ominously floating towards us. On both his hands were revolvers with overly long barrels as his thumbs eagerly fiddled with the hammer. The most disturbing part was his head. Not only was it tilted diagonally, there was a hole in his mask, revealing one ominous eye staring at us. It radiated an aura of despair and fear, and only looking at him made me feel as though I was drowning.

"Oh shit, I do not like this." Lazard said. Apparently he turned to look at this…this…Reaper as well.

The Shadow made a cackling noise as it pointed its gun at us, cocking it. Then I heard a loud bang, followed by the floor where I just was utterly being destroyed, pieces flying everywhere. The bullet caused so much destruction; it was more like a mini-grenade. This is really, really bad.

 _/The stairs are straight ahead. Keep running./_

The Reaper cocked another two shots and pointed it at us, and I had this wrenching feeling in my guy it's not going to miss this time. I manifest a Persona card as the shot was fired.

"Protect us, Shiisha."

Now a small figure stood between the shot and us. It was a small yellowish dog-like creature with green fur accents. It let out a roar as a green barrier stood appeared in front of him. The shot collided with it.

And immediately destroyed it, as well as Shiisha. I felt my head hurt badly, as though someone was drilling into it mercilessly with a large drill. Still, despite the pain, it stopped the attack. I run forward, and saw the stairs in our sights. Our escape.

"It's catching up." Nate screamed.

"Urgh. Ares, Phalanx!" James said, breaking a Persona card. The hallway suddenly shook as Ares appeared, burying his shield in the ground. Suddenly ghostly, transparent red shields appeared beside Ares, with spears sticking out the gaps. The reaper took a shot at the wall, and the round exploded against the wall of shields, cracking it and not breaking. I looked back at James, and saw sweat drop down his face, his eyes twitching as he scowled.

I heard shot after shot fired, praying that none of them landed on me as I see James actually wince. The stairs were so close, we were almost there. I heard another gun cock, but it was too late as we ascended the stairs.

 _/The signature is gone. It looks like he's given up the chase./_

"That was…too close." Lazard said between deep breaths. "That guy…that guy was seriously scary."

"Yeah…" Nate said, just as exasperated. "Is this what you guys deal with every time?"

 _/No…it's the first time an incident like this occurred. I wonder what could have triggered it.../_

 _What could have triggered it…wait…_

I took a look at my closed hand, and opened it up to find the purple gem underneath. Looking at it now, it was still glowing, but it had dimmed considerably. Could it be…?

"Uh…I…might know what caused it." I say nervously. "I picked up an item just before that thing showed up. It was a glowing purple gem, but it's dimmed now."

 _/Hmm…a possible theory. I'll try to figure this out later. For now, recuperate and find the exit immediately. Our mission in done for today./_

"A-affirmative." I heard James voiced say, as strained as I ever heard him. I turned around to look at him and saw that he was leaning against the wall. His face looked flustered and exhausted. I approach him to see if I could help.

"Hey, you alright?" I said.

"I-I'm fine." He said in between deep breaths.

"Are you sure? Is there anything I can do to he-"

"I'm fine!" He said loudly, drawing the attention of Lazard and Nate. He looked down at the ground, his frown widening. "Don't worry about me. I just need to recover my strength."

After a minute of awkward silence, we decided to search the floor, avoiding the spotlights as we went. We eventually found the exit and teleported. Once we processed our findings, we hopped back into the real world and went our separate ways without another word.

* * *

"It's been a while…" Said the deep voice of the long nosed man in front of me.

So much for a normal night of resting, I suppose. When I closed my eyes after that mission, I was hoping to wake up in my room, but instead I've ended up here in the Velvet Room.

"Yeah…" I said. It had been a few days since I entered the Velvet Room, and I had intended to take Victoria out soon. "Why am I here?"

"There is a matter of import to discuss…" Igor said. "A dangerous path has been opened, and a dangerous foe is watching you from the darkness."

"I…see." I said, confused. Who's this dangerous foe? Is it another Shadow? "Why are you telling me this?"

"It was a message from my…creator." He responded, not changing his tone at all. "The days ahead will have many trials, but we shall assist you as the contract abides. Now, it seems our time is up. We shall meet again."

I felt the room around me haze, and I closed my eyes. There'll be time to process this later, but all I want to do is sleep soundly.

 **And done. Again, sorry this took so long. Next up is a Social Link Showdown. Until then, readers -ArcanaHermit**


	23. Social Link Scramble VII

**Welcome back to Social Link Showdown, where we handle out more bad and unrealistic dialogue…Not much else to say really. Onward! –ArcanaHermit**

 _Liverty Shopping Square, Supaishi Ramen Shop_

Seeing as how everyone else I knew was busy today, I decided to take Lazard out to this place. He admitted that he wasn't a big fan of Eastern food, but he immediately took a liking to the ramen here, as evidenced by his loud and shameless slurping of the noodles.

"Man, this place is good. Thanks for showing me here, Kurea." He said in between slurps.

"No problem. I actually know this from a friend of mine, Elise Furdeaux. She usually orders ramen, and sometimes seafood alongside it."

At the mention of seafood, he internally cringed. "Oh no, never touching seafood for a good long while, if ever. Last time I had some with my dad I didn't leave the bathroom the whole day. Urgh…" He groaned before continuing to devour his bowl. I can't help but giggle at that little revelation. I've had more than enough experience with bad food.

On another note, I'm secretly glad that he brought up his father without it being harmful to the mood. With so many sensitive topics I've seen, it's glad to know that he's mostly gotten over it, making me wonder if I should ask him a certain question. I was thinking about it when I caught him staring at me

"You're curious about me and Nate, aren't you?" He said bluntly, his eyebrows raised. I felt my cheeks rise up.

"Yeah…" I admitted. No sense in lying now.

"I suppose he did tell you then." He said, no longer eating his noodles. His face went from a smile to a somber frown. "I don't hate him, if that's what you're thinking. It wasn't him that shot my dad after all. It's just…awkward for the two of us, given what happened."

Yeahhh, when one person's father shoots another person's father, their sons aren't exactly going to get along.

"If anything, I feel sorry for him, both me and my mom." He said solemnly. "From what I've heard, his dad was an outstanding guy, and only did it because he got wasted. Not to mention that Nate had to be the decisive witness against his dad. I can still see that he holds some of that guilt on himself."

"I couldn't imagine what it was like for him." I say immediately, almost without thinking. Realizing that I'm making things too dark, I said to him. "Let's turn to another subject. How's your mom?"

"Oh, she's fine. I visit her every few days after school." He said, his smile returning. "You should meet her sometime; she's quite the social bee."

"I'm sure she is." I reply with a smile of my own. Afterwards, our conversation gave way to slurping noodles without a word. After we paid, we decided to walk around the Shopping Square a little bit before parting ways. We stopped at a fountain with a statue of a person holding his gun up high, where people were throwing coins at it.

"Throwing coins into a fountain?" I said jokingly.

"Never done it before?" Lazard said, his hand reaching for his pocket.

"I'm more of a "wish upon a shooting star" kind of gal." I say, leading to a chuckle from him.

"Heh. Whenever my dad and I stop by this place we always threw a coin into the fountain and wish for something." He pulled out a dime. "He always swore that when he threw in a one dollar coin, the wish he got would come true." He flipped the coin a couple of times before tossing it into the fountain.

"So what'd you wish for?" I ask.

"Sorry, all wishes are secret." He said. I make a face at him, causing him to laugh.

The booming noise returned.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath strengthen the bond_

 _Thou shall receive more blessings when using Personas of the Chariot Arcana_

The noise passed. I decided to take out a coin of my own and threw it in the fountain, not quite sure about my wish. After a little more chatting, we decided to part ways. On my end, I had nowhere else to go, so I decided to wander a bit on my own.

* * *

I decided to wander a bit into unknown territory and stumbled upon a rather empty part of town, with barely anyone in it. There was a park there, so I walked there. It was a rather quiet place, with nothing but the sounds of the wind and the rustling of leaves.

Afterwards, I saw someone touching what looked to be a giant piece of rock. I didn't know why, but I was drawn to the mysterious person. I only walked a few steps before he turned around to see me, and his eyes widened.

He was about my age, maybe younger, with auburn hair and black eyes. He was wearing a black trench coat with a red shirt underneath as well as jeans, while a locket hanged loosely from his neck. He continues to stare at me for some time, eying me suspiciously. I feel a slight chill up my spine.

"U-uh…hi..." I said nervously.

He stayed silent, his eyes still suspicious. There was a long silence, or at least it felt long, before he finally responded.

"Hi."

And I thought talking to James was hard. I decided to approach him, which only made his stare more intense.

"I don't bite. I swear." I say half-jokingly. He merely turned his head back into the rock. Once I got a good look at it, I see that one side of it was smoothed out, with a lot of names engraved on it. On the top read "In Memory of 2001". It was very clear that this was a memorial of some kind, which meant that the stranger was most likely here because someone he knew was engraved on that memorial.

Approaching closer until we were next to each other, I decided to stare at the memorials. None of the names were people I knew, though I could imagine my mother might know a few of the names. After a little bit of silence, the mysterious person finally spoke up.

"Why are you here?" He said, his voice firm.

"I was just wondering around town, and I stumbled across this place." I replied.

He continued to stare at the memorial, not turning. "I see…do you know what happened to cause this memorial?"

"No…" I said, immediately followed by a scoff from him.

"A big fire broke out in a part of the city near here. Killed all the people that are listed on this rock, and left most of their relatives homeless. Those that were rich made it out just fine, but the poor folk either got homeless or died in a ditch somewhere."

"Oh…" I said. "Who got-"

"My mother…" He replied before I finish my question. "She was a single parent. My asshole of a father left her when he found out she was having me. She never really complained to me, but I can tell she broke her back just for us to get by."

"I see." I didn't know what to say really. Being honest, I wasn't expecting him to tell me this much. He started to walk away, his hands in his pocket.

"W-wait, I didn't get your name."

He stopped before turning around to face me. I couldn't exactly read what he was feeling right now; his face was stoic, almost like James's.

"Adam. Adam Madia." He said before turning back and walking away. I heard glass shattering, and I knew what was coming next.

 _I art thou, thou art I_

 _Thou hath formed a powerful bond_

 _It shall be the power that drives you forward, the key needed to open the door_

 _Thou shall receive our blessings when using Personas of the Justice Arcana._

And with that, I was alone once more.

* * *

"What the hell…?" I muttered to myself once I knew she couldn't hear me, as I picked up pace. One of the Society's flunkies just visited me. She didn't know who I was, so she was probably there by circumstance like she said, but that wasn't the point.

Why did I say that stuff to her?

Despite my instinct to attack her on sight, I decided to refrain in order to not blow my cover. But still, I didn't know why I said what I did. The fire, my mother, I was surprised I didn't even reveal my actual name to her.

Calming myself down, I decide to approach this rationally rather than emotionally. This can be good, really good. I can learn more about my enemy this way. If she happens to come back, I can get more information about the Society: their plans, members, abilities. I considered informing Zak about this, but I figured if he wants to play the mystery game, so can I.

Regardless of that, I needed to blow off some steam. I head back home, sneaking my way past the landlady. I approach my room and immediately hop in the mirror...

...And ended up in Shadow's Den.

The walls were twisting and turning, the ceiling felt like it was melting into each other, and the ground was shimmering. Despite usually being in an unstable state unless it's at midnight, several Shadows still roamed the area. I charge towards the corridor, making sure to mark my exit and timing myself so it doesn't close. I immediately saw two Shadows to my right, and focused deep within myself.

The gun was pointed at my head, cocked and ready. My finger was on the trigger.

 _Bang!_

"Come, Dantes!"

 **And that's it. Tune in next time.**


	24. Chapter Sixteen: James

**And after much delay, we're back. Now time for a different point of view. Now to disappear for a few weeks again –ArcanaHermit**

"Psyche test done. Thank you for your time, Mr Selene."

As I sat back up from the couch, I noticed that tea already poured into two cups. Taking one, I drink it slowly as Valeria makes her final conclusions on the monitor.

"So, no chance of it forcing its way out by accident?" I said simply to distract myself. The sounds of fingers tapping on keys was annoying me.

"Not likely." Valeria said, giving me the answer I expected. "You'll need to undergo extreme emotional stress for it to have a remote chance of springing out by accident. That, as well as your conscious consent."

She stops her tapping and sits down, drinking the tea laid out. Now for the most annoying part of the day to commence. It was always the same routine: I come here, run a few psychological readings and tests (which both of us know doesn't work unless I actually make the effort expose my well-disguised psyche.), and we would talk. The first part of it was pretty much mandated by the Society in order to make sure I won't lose control. The second, well…

It was part of my "mental rehabilitation" on her end. Valeria trying to make me…something akin to a normal teenager. But no matter what she tries or what she says, my heart will never open to her. If I even had something that resembles "compassion" or "happiness", I willingly threw those away when I joined their little project, and I have no interest in reclaiming it.

"So…" Valeria started the conversation, as always. "I'd ask how was your day, but seeing as how it's the morning, there's not much of a day to talk about."

She flashed me a smile, to which I return with a look of…" calmness" is the best way to describe it. I couldn't really smile for her, a genuine smile at least. But she was trying to help me, and I will never be angry with her for that.

"Instead, let's talk about your companions." She said, scribbling some words into a notepad that she left on the table. "How do you feel about them?"

"No more than I did before." I said bluntly. Of course I could be sarcastic, as I usually am, but I wasn't in the mood. Especially when I going to visit a certain annoying Velvet Attendant today.

"Truly? Then what is your assessment of our newest member, Nathan."

I bury deep into my mind to find the relevant information regarding him. The benefit of my…unique conditioning is that I have a near perfect memory, as memory and information for me was stored into what a computer would consider a "databank" filed from most to least important.

"His Persona specializes in supporting and improving the physical and mental capabilities of other Personas." I said, the assessment being written up as though I was writing a script. "Other than that he has minor offensive and defensive capabilities. Efficient and useful when he's with a party, but ineffective on his own."

"I meant as a person, James." Valeria reprimanded.

"Oh." I reply in a deadpan voice. Maybe I was in the mood for sarcasm after all. I knew what she wanted, my opinions and thoughts of his personality. "He's…troubled. He feels guilt not only for his father's conviction, but also for what happened with Lazard's dad. Not only that, the pressure of other's views on the incident, and him by association, also affects him heavily."

Scribbling on her notepad, she sighs. "Sometimes I wish you weren't so analytical."

Don't be so analytical…in other words, stop being logical. Stop the years of conditioning that made me what I am, but responding would be considered rude, and I've already earned enough ire from my conflicts with Lazard. I looked at her as she stopped writing, and motions at the door.

"I'll continue this tonight. You may leave." She said. I stood up and immediately head out the door. Walking down to the lobby, I catch sight of Lazard walking in. He gave me a brief look and frowned, still angry with me over withholding information.

My opinions of him are rather…mixed. I find his dedication to his cause respectable, but his naïveté is rather annoying. It helps that we work fine in a combat situation, as therefore I have no need to interact with each other outside of those situations in order to build rapport.

"Hey" He said. I nodded in return before he walked past me and head upstairs, most likely to his room. I simply ignored him and head out. There were other things that need to be done.

* * *

 _Random Alleyway_

I stare at what appeared to be a dead end in most people's eyes, but in mine was a different sight. A door of velvet blue stood there, closed. I opened and was met with a white haze…

…Only for me to pop up at that ever familiar room. Looking around, I saw that Igor wasn't around here, with Victoria the only resident at the moment. She looked at me and squints slightly, an annoyed expression on her face.

Truth be told, I didn't know how we gotten to be so annoyed with one another, though considering most of the animosity is on her end, it's more of how I managed to annoy her. I wasn't exactly filling her with snarky comments, so far as I'm aware, though I could just easily be unintentionally aggravating. It wasn't exactly unheard of for me.

"Greetings." She said. Despite the formal tone in which she said that, I still feel as though she was being forced to say that. "Welcome to the Velvet Room, what do you require?"

"Give me a list of what I can fuse, Victoria." I responded. Silently, the attendant opened her compendium, inside a list of every possible Persona fusion with my current Personas. It was a very low list, and the Personas that were available weren't particularly strong.

"Is that truly all?" I ask, leading her to huff.

"The compendium never lies." She said semi-smugly. "It is a shame. The other Wild Card had a much wider repertoire of Personas to draw from."

Disregarding her blatant shot at me, it was obvious who she was referring to. Kurea's potential for summoning multiple Persona's seemed much less restricted, though that's not to say I was completely inferior to her. She may have the more varied Personas, but the ones I have are more than enough to match her on raw power alone.

Still, I wonder what is it that made her able to wield the power of the Wild Card so flexibly. What was it that made her so special? For all my guessing and speculation, I still haven't found an answer. It perplexes me.

"Where's Igor?" I ask, trying to clear my mind of that subject.

"My master is speaking with his master." She said simply. "He'll be back before long. Now then, is there anything else I can do for you?"

I ponder that question for a moment. I didn't particularly need the compendium at this point in time, nor do I care to fulfill her silly little requests. With that, I closed my eyes and open them again, and I find myself in that alleyway again. I suddenly heard something poke my back. Something sharp and cold, the point of a knife.

"Give me your money, now." I heard a voice behind me. It wasn't a particularly confident voice, so I can only assume that it was nothing but a petty thief. This isn't going to be a problem.

I turned around quickly and push away the flat knife with my hand, surprising the assailant. The look on his face was one of surprise, and it turned into one of pain as I quickly grab the arm holding the knife, twisting it. The knife was about to drop before I picked it up with my other arm and thrust it in the man's shoulder.

The man immediately screamed in pain before I landed a punch on his head. The force of it wasn't enough to kill, but it did knock him out, which was my intention. As he lay there on the floor, blood flowing from his shoulder, I look at him with a minor annoyance before picking up my phone. The contacts I have saved only two people. One was Valeria, the other was who I'm calling now.

It only took several seconds for a voice, low-pitched and burly to answer.

"What is it?"

"I request a clean-up situation. No witnesses but there's need of medical assistance."

The voiced sighed before responding.

"What happened?"

"A petty thief assaulted me, and I dealt with it accordingly. He has a stab wound on his shoulder, but nothing that will immediately kill him."

I heard a low growl. The man was unsurprisingly angry about the situation. Even if the cause was instigated by a random variable, any possible incident that could expose me or who I am affiliated with was always going to be troublesome to the Society.

"Send me the coordinates and sit tight. Hide the assailant if you can. I want no one to see it, you hear me? No one."

"Affirmative." And with that, the other person hung up.

I stood there waiting for clean up to arrive, dragging the body behind a dumpster to keep it out of view. As for the blood, there wasn't enough for it to be immediately noticeable, so I simply stood in front of it in case any wanderer happened to walk in. If they somehow managed to see the man, or if the man woke up again then it's a simple matter of rendering them unconscious, even if it meant more headaches for the higher ups.

Soon enough, a man in a black suit and sunglasses came and nodded at me. I pointed behind the dumpster and he picked up the body without much effort before silently leaving, probably for a nearby vehicle. Clean up crews are never talkative anyways.

With that little distraction underway, I found myself with nothing to do for the rest of the day. Training wasn't particularly an option at this time, and simply recuperating in my room, which I usually do when I'm left with no tasks to accomplish wasn't appealing either. I felt like doing…something. Something I never thought I wanted to do.

I walked back to the dorm. It was still the holidays, and with any luck, I might be able to catch her.

* * *

 _Liverty Shopping Square, Beef'n'Burgers_

As the sizzling hot plate of beef was served before me, I started to question myself about why I chose to do this. It was rare for me to eat anything other than simple packaged food (or the odd occasion Valeria decides to cook for me), even rarer still when I'm not the only one in the table.

Standing opposite of me, Kurea is eating her meal of steak and chips at a normal pace, her face indicating that she's enjoying the taste. As I begin to cut and eat my meal, I notice her staring at me while she is eating.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. It was what a normal person would respond when being stared, or so I've been told.

"No…just a little surprised that you decided to invite me." She said in between bites. "I'm glad though, I had nothing to do today, and it's been a while since I've eaten any local food."

"I…see." I responded. It still eludes me why I suddenly decided to invite her. She's the second most recent person I've met, and we've interacted so little besides those talks in the rooftop. Yet why did I feel like simply…being with her. Was what Victoria said really true, that wielders of the Wild Card were drawn to one another?

Putting that string of thoughts aside, I continue eating my meal. It was rather appetizing, though it wasn't a far cry from the rations I was accustomed to. Conversation between us was rather sparse, with Kurea only asking a few mundane questions every now and then. Yet I found myself oddly enjoying this, a subtle wave of comfort washing over me as we exchanged information. Are these feelings what others felt when friends interact with one another?

It oddly reminded me of…-no. I can't draw back to that time. And yet the more I stayed here, the more that I drew the parallel between this and that period of my life.

I stood up once I finished my meal. I took out a fifty-dollar bill from my pocket and placed it on the table. "This should pay for us both. You may keep the change."

"Are you sure? This is an awful lot of money." She said.

"It is no problem. Financially speaking, I am well off." I decided to not tell her the fact that it is due to my…" endorsement".

She gave me a grin and nodded. "Thank you. Hey, can I get your phone number? I want to pay you back for this, and I'm not taking no for an answer."

I hesitated for a moment, talking with her and inviting her for lunch was already as far as I was about to push it. I looked away and started to walk out the exit. "Another time. I have to go."

* * *

I immediately headed out and walked back to the dorm, thankfully passing no one else I recognized today. I went back into my room and decided sit on my plain bed. Looking at my bookcase, there was a litany of books that I've yet read, from something as recent and magical as Tolken's Lord of the Rings to the manifesto of Hitler, Mein Kampf. But those will come in due time, as I felt no interest in reading.

Looking at my table, and leaning on it was my weapons, the black blades sheathed beneath. Approaching them and holding them, the memory of a thousand tests, training sessions and battles began to flood over me. I needed this. I needed those memories to wash away my feelings of anger, of confusion, of the past and present. These blades were all I needed. I immediately went into my mind, activating one of the many protocols that was instilled within me.

"Protocol I-5 set. Engaging independent shutdown procedure."

With that self-protocol set, I sat down on the chair facing the window. Though my eyes were still open, my mind was shutting down, my thoughts soon melting into a blank. Before I fully lost myself, I looked at the sky once more, and a distant memory began to play.

 _Wouldn't it be nice to fly…?_

 **And I'm done. It's been a while, and I've been busy. But things should pick up soon. Until then –ArcanaHermit.**


End file.
